A woman, Leticia Verney, has been arrested after trying unsuccessfully to smuggle drugs into an Arizona prison.
According to the Maricopa County Sheriff’s Office, on February 4, the 41-year-old Verney was arrested by Arizona Department of
Corrections, Rehabilitation and Reentry (ADCRR) on conspiracy charges because they had recordings of her plans to bring drugs into visits at Lewis Prison.
When Verney was brought into the Maricopa County Sheriff’s Office’s (MCSO) Intake, Transfer and Release Jail and placed on the search wall, MCSO K-9, Bear, alerted its handler, MCSO Officer Samaniego to the presence of drugs. Verney was subsequently searched, and a package was discovered on her person. The search resulted in the seizure of one ounce of heroin, one ounce of methamphetamine, 200 fentanyl pills, and seven grams of marijuana.
“This quantity and classification of narcotics is worth thousands of dollars on the streets, and potentially tens of thousands of dollars in a custody setting. Without the K-9 alert, there would have been a great probability that these drugs would have made it into our jails, impacting the safety of the inmates and our staff in potentially deadly ways,” said Chief Deputy Russ Skinner.