A small number of employees at Dee’s Diner and inmates at the Daviess County Detention Center have been coordinating to smuggle drugs into the jail, according to the Daviess County Sheriff’s Office. The operation was uncovered Wednesday and six people are facing charges.
According to DCSO, during the criminal trial of Harold Sanders, which was taking place in Circuit Court Division 2 at the Daviess County Judicial Center, food was delivered from outside the court system and was intended to go to Sanders.
“This is not standard practice as food for inmates is typically sent from the jail. Court staff became suspicious and notified Court Security Officers. Per security protocols, the food container was searched by Daviess County Sheriff’s Office Court Security Officers, and suspected narcotics were located hidden in the food container,” according to a release.
The DCSO Investigations Division was notified, and a drug investigation was initiated by the Special Investigations Unit. The suspected drugs were seized and sent to KSP Lab for analysis, according to DCSO. Results are pending at this time.
During the ensuing investigation, DCSO detectives and DCDC staff discovered that an inmate at the jail “had used his inmate phone communication privileges to place a takeout order at Dee’s Diner to be picked up by a third party, and that an employee at the restaurant placed drugs in the food container at the request of the inmate.”
According to the release, the food was then picked up and taken to the Judicial Center to be delivered to Sanders, who was there for his trial. (Sanders was found guilty Thursday of third-degree assault of a police officer in 2020.)
According to DCSO, the investigation also produced evidence that this was not an isolated incident but that it has occurred previously and involved multiple employees of the restaurant and inmates from DCDC in a coordinated effort to get drugs into the detention center.
Sheriff Brad Youngman stressed the owners of Dee’s Diner were not involved in the drug trafficking attempts and were fully cooperative to help find the employees responsible.
“The owners of Dee’s Diner were very cooperative in this investigation and their efforts to assist detectives was instrumental in getting the investigation resolved as quickly as it was,” the DCSO release said. “Detectives closely coordinated this investigation with the Circuit Court Clerk’s Office staff who first noticed the problem and then provided invaluable assistance and resources.”
The investigation remains ongoing and additional charges are likely, according to DCSO.
The below suspects were each charged with one count of second-degree conspiracy to commit trafficking in a controlled substance, a Class D felony:
- Harold Sanders Jr., 34, 3300 block of HWY 144
- Timothy D. Fullerton, 43, 2100 block of Arlington Park Boulevard
- Timothy D. Fullerton, age 24, 2100 block of Arlington Park Boulevard
- Matthew S. Fullerton, age 21, 3300 block of HWY 144
- Jennifer M. Fullerton, 44, 2100 block of Arlington Park Boulevard
- Eric P. Burroughs, 24, 3300 block of HWY 144
