MARSHALL COUNTY, MS (abc24.com) - A Mississippi sheriff is using the arrest of a county jail worker to send a message. Contraband won't be tolerated.
Deputies arrested Jared Stevens this week for conspiring to bring marijuana into the Marshall County Jail. Steven's arrest highlights an old problem, but a growing one.
"They don't know the cameras are watching and they'll just run over there throw it over the fence." Things like drugs, cell phones and contraband; things that should be kept out of jail.
"It happens every day all over America and next door here," says Sheriff Kenny Dickerson. "On several occasions we've had people throwing contraband over the fence here." Dickerson doesn't tolerate any of it.
"My patience is very, very short with them," especially after his department arrested jailer Jared Stevens.
"We don't tolerate that from inmates and we're certainly not going to tolerate it from someone entrusted and being paid to care for inmates. To me that bothers me more than the inmate themselves doing it."
Dickerson says deputies received a tip Stevens was up to no good.
"We immediately opened a lengthy investigation and ended up getting him and two more suspects involved with him."
Stevens was the county's newest hire and came highly recommended. Now he faces up to five years behind bars and five thousand dollar fine.
His arrest, while casting a shadow over the county's two dozen jailers, serves as an additional warning.
"We tell them in staff meetings over and over and remind them again, you just don't do that."
