'Special delivery' scheme halted

2/27/2007

Authorities are investigating at least four people involved in breaking a window at the Lucas County jail to smuggle in contraband.

An outside security officer on patrol at the jail found a partial piece of a window on the ground about 7 p.m. Sunday, Lucas County sheriff's Lt. Bobby Leist said.

The window had been broken out from at least two stories up about 20 to 30 minutes before, and cigarettes and other contraband were brought inside via a bedsheet that had been dropped down, the lieutenant said.

The jail was immediately put on lockdown and inmates were searched.

Those involved, whom the lieutenant would not identify, citing the ongoing investigation, are incarcerated for crimes varying from drug trafficking to homicide.

"One of the reasons we're going to investigate it thoroughly is because I'm not sure this wasn't a dry run," Lieutenant Leist said, adding that a small-caliber gun could have fit through the broken window.

The people believed to be involved were moved to a maximum security area of the jail and face minimum charges of felony vandalism and illegal conveyance of prohibited items onto the grounds of a detention facility.