WAGONER, Okla. — Wagoner County Sheriff's Office confirmed two inmates at the county jail reacted to a substance believed to be the deadly drug fentanyl the afternoon of Nov. 11.
Sheriff Chris Elliott told 2 News he believes Dawaune Allen, who was already booked into the jail, was able to hide a dangerous substance, then, after at least a day in jail, distributed some of it to at least two other inmates.
"He was intoxicated at the time he was booked in," Sheriff Elliott said. "He had a medical prescreen done on him, and he was sequestered in a holding cell up front until the day of the event."
The sheriff said two men in different holding cells were found unresponsive Monday afternoon, one in visibly worse shape than the other.
"He had no heart rate. He had no respirations, and he was actually starting to have an ash and gray appearance," he said. "So they immediately administered Narcan to him, started CPR on him and transported him out."
Micky Hooks told 2 News she heard her son, Jadontray Hooks, was one of the men hospitalized, but the sheriff's office couldn't confirm that to her, citing HIPAA laws. She added her son also struggles with addiction.
"He's been in there over a year, and they keep passing his court date, which I keep telling them, 'He needs help. He needs help."
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Sheriff Elliott said he knows how the substance was able to go undetected. Without body scanners used by other counties in Green Country, he said, materials hidden inside inmates' bodies can't be detected by jailers so easily.
"But with this medical grade scanner we can put inmates on it do a scan, and then the detention officer themselves will be able to see if there's little baggies up in them or if there's something in that body that should not be there," the sheriff said.
"I think this is a piece of technology that will save lives. I think this is a piece of technology that the county needs to invest in, because the more we can keep injuries out of our jail and overdoses out of our jail, the less of a liability there is on the county."
Sheriff Elliott added the jail is on high alert this week and has already made a separate contraband arrest Tuesday afternoon.
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