Indio woman behind bars for allegedly mailing drugs to inmate
A woman was behind bars at the John Benoit Detention Center today on suspicion of mailing methamphetamine and fentanyl to an inmate at the same correctional facility.
The woman, a 35-year-old from Indio, was booked on suspicion of possession of narcotics, willful harm to a child and smuggling controlled substances into jail, according to inmate records. She was being held on $35,000 bail.
The jail's Correctional Intelligence Bureau contacted the sheriff's Thermal Investigations Bureau on Jan. 7 about the intercepted mail with drugs, according to Sgt. David Aldrich of the Riverside County Sheriff's Department.
"The investigation revealed the mail was addressed to a specific inmate, however, the sender's name and return address differed with each piece of mail," Aldrich said. The inmate was not identified.
A joint investigation led to the identification of the woman, and at 4:30 p.m. Wednesday, as the Coachella Valley Narcotics Task Force served a search warrant, she was arrested in the 44500 block of Sun Gold Street in Indio.
Anyone with information on the mailed drugs was asked to call Investigator James from the Thermal Sheriff's station at 760-863-8856 or Valley Crimestoppers anonymously at 760-341-7867(STOP).
