Three people have been charged after the death of a federal correctional officer who opened drug-laced mail sent to an inmate, authorities said.
Jamar Jones, 35, an inmate at U.S. Penitentiary in Atwater, Calif., Stephanie Ferreira, 35, of Evansville, Ind., and Jermen Rudd III, 37, of Wentzville, Mo., were charged on Tuesday, Aug. 20, the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Eastern District of California said in a press release.
The trio are accused of conspiring to mail drugs into the high-security penitentiary for Jones to sell. As part of that scheme, Jones and Ferreira allegedly had Rudd mail a letter laced with drugs to Jones that was fraudulently labeled as “legal mail,” per the release.
On Aug. 9, a correctional officer — identified only as M.F. in a criminal complaint reviewed by PEOPLE — opened that letter and minutes later began to feel sick. “I don’t feel good, it’s going up my arm, I need medical,” another officer recalled M.F. saying.
After evaluation by medical staff, M.F. was subsequently taken to the hospital, where he died, authorities said.
According to the criminal complaint, the letter, which was mailed three days earlier, “tested presumptively positive for amphetamines, fentanyl, and ‘spice,’ or synthetic cannabinoids, among other substances.”
While an autopsy of the correctional officer’s body was completed at the Merced County Coroner’s Office, his cause of death remains undetermined pending toxicology test results, per the complaint. “No obvious physical cause of death separate from narcotics was observed,” the complaint states.
According to the complaint, Jones is charged with one count of conspiracy to distribute and distribution of a controlled substance with prior felony drug conviction and one count of an inmate obtaining or attempting to obtain narcotic drugs.
Ferreria and Rudd are both charged with one count of conspiracy to distribute and distribution of a controlled substance and one count of providing or attempting to provide an inmate with narcotic drugs, per the complaint. Both will be arraigned on the charges in their respective home states, the U.S. Attorney’s Office said. Jones is scheduled to appear in court next week.
It’s unclear if the trio have entered pleas or retained attorneys to speak on their behalf. If convicted, prosecutors said all three suspects face decades in prison and a $250,000 fine.
