Community Affairs officer Corporal Catherine Payne tells Historic City News that additional charges have been filed against two St Johns County inmates for their involvement in the introduction of contraband into the detention facility.
Suboxone, a drug used as a treatment for opiate addiction, was discovered during a cell search at the county jail; after 29-year-old Hana Marie Colson appeared to corrections deputies that she was intoxicated.
Seen as a more convenient alternative to methadone, which can only be dispensed at federally licensed clinics, Suboxone became the first narcotic that doctors could prescribe for addiction to opiates since it received FDA approval in 2002.
Investigators looking into the Colson incident determined that 21-year-old Chelsey Marie Camerone, who resides at 373 Fortuna Avenue in St Augustine, conspired to introduce the drug into the jail by sending it secretly through the mail to Colson.
“Besides pills, Suboxone also comes in thin strips which dissolve under the tongue,” St Johns County Sheriff David Shoar told Historic City News this afternoon. “Innovative smugglers have turned crushed Suboxone pills into a paste and spread it under stamps and have tucked these hard-to-spot strips behind envelope seams.”
Camerone was already under surveillance in connection with the operation of a clandestine methamphetamine lab at 2599 A1A South in St Augustine. Evidence in that case linked Camerone as being involved in the active production and possession of Methamphetamine. Camerone was arrested on those charges today, as well. She has also been charged with Violation of Probation which makes her ineligible for bail.
Colson, who resides at 176 Cacique Drive in St Augustine, remains in custody in lieu of $1,500 bond.