A smuggling scheme to get a pipeline of drugs behind bars.
Investigators say it involved phone calls, coded conversations, and a former jail staffer.
Now four people are charged in a scheme to make big profits selling drugs to inmates behind bars.
When you think about it, it really is absurd. Smuggling drugs into a jail full of law enforcement, but of course it's been done for years.
The truth is now, if you can pull it off it's more lucrative than ever before.
Why?
Well, like any commodity — the harder it is to obtain the more valuable the commodity becomes even behind bars.
"It can be very lucrative. Inmates put money on people's cash apps, finding people on the outside willing to move the drugs," said Ruby Joyner, Chief of Davidson County Corrections.
Easier said than done.
It's the rare person who manages to smuggle drugs in through Davidson County Jail intake.
It's thorough.
People are searched and then X-rayed to check for any hidden drugs or weapons. We show you a bit of what prisoners have to go through before being detained, including drug detection systems, in the player above.
"For the most part we are the first line of defense for contraband -- doing everything we can to keep it out," said Sgt. Mike Jones.
But six months ago, staff noticed a steady stream of opioids suddenly making it into the jail.
The thinking is someone perhaps on the take found a way to bypass the jail security with drugs.
"Inmates who were overdosing in jails — getting their hands on substances. You wonder how and begin watching operations," said Joyner.
That led investigators to arrest former jail nurse, Devin Popejo, in Virginia.
She's accused of plotting with three inmates, talking in code on recorded jail phone lines, and discussing how to smuggle drugs behind bars for big money.
Investigators picked up on it and brought charges against the four this past week.
They say that may have stopped one drug connection, but it's an ongoing battle.
The sheriff says it's not exactly clear how these four suspects managed to smuggle the narcotics into the jail. The investigation continues, and there's a good possibility of more arrests.
Did you know books and even letters are no longer allowed in jail with inmates?
Smugglers would douse the paper with liquid drugs.
So now, everything is electronic on a tablet.
Do you have more information about this story? You can email me at nick.beres@newschannel5.
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