The Camp Verde Detention Center is getting a body scanner as cases of people smuggling drugs in body cavities increase, according to a release from the Yavapai County Sheriff’s Office.
Earlier this month, YCSO detention officers received information that an inmate in the Camp Verde Detention Center, 27-year-old Samantha Willis of Chino Valley, was carrying drugs in her vaginal cavity.
Willis had been booked a few days earlier on several drug charges, YCSO said. During the booking, she was advised that bringing dangerous contraband into the jail is a felony class violation.
Detention officers contacted Willis, and she denied carrying any drugs, YCSO said. A detention officer strip searched Willis, but the search did not turn up any contraband.
YCSO said while Willis remained isolated in the jail’s infirmary, she became ill and started complaining of severe stomach pains. Willis became very pale and shaky and eventually admitted to hiding drugs in her vaginal cavity during her initial arrest, according to YCSO.
Willis tried to remove the drugs herself under observation, but she could not, authorities said. She told detention officers she had about nine bags of meth and a bag of weed inside her.
Emergency responders went to the jail and took Willis to the Verde Valley Medical Center. Hospital staff removed the nine bags of meth and bag of marijuana.
YCSO said Willis was treated and faces more charges of possession of a controlled substance and promoting prison contraband.
In another case on Sept. 1, deputies booked Rosylnn Reed from Bullhead, Arizona, on an out-of-state warrant., YCSO said.
According to authorities, a detention officer noticed an object protruding from Reed’s vaginal cavity during a routine booking strip search.
Reed initially told deputies she was not carrying anything, but eventually agreed to remove the item—which contained more than 100 grams of methamphetamine, according to YCSO.
Reed faces additional charges of taking a controlled substance into a correctional facility.
YCSO said these cases have occurred more frequently in the recent months. As a result, a full body scanner will be installed in the booking area of the Camp Verde Detention Center.
