A Salt Lake City woman is facing multiple criminal charges after she allegedly aided in smuggling methamphetamine into the Tooele County Detention Center.
Rosealina A. Hernandez, 34, is charged with first-degree felony possession with intent to distribute a controlled substance and misdemeanor counts of possession or use of a controlled substance, manufacture or deliver drug paraphernalia, and use or possession of drug paraphernalia.
After controlled substances were discovered on three separate occasions, Tooele County sheriff’s detectives had the restrooms in the lobby at the jail under surveillance, according to a probable cause statement.
An investigation determined inmates were requesting drugs through phone calls, the statement said. An outside party would then bring the drugs and place them outside the liner of the garbage cans in the bathrooms in the jail’s lobby.
When inmates cleaned the bathrooms, they would conceal the drugs and bring them into the housing units, where they were distributed, according to the probable cause statement.
On Aug. 10, the lobby bathrooms were checked and nothing was found, the statement said. The lobby was under surveillance and Hernandez is seen entering the bathroom at 11:53 a.m. and then exiting at 11:57 a.m.
Hernandez then deposited $40 to an inmate using a kiosk in the lobby and is seen exiting the building at noon, the statement said. Detectives immediately searched the bathroom and found 5.6 grams of methamphetamine in the garbage can, underneath the liner.
Hernandez was interviewed by investigators but declined to speak with them, the statement said. Prior to being booked, Hernandez told jail staff she had no contraband, but a small baggie of methamphetamine was discovered on her and paraphernalia was discovered in her purse in her car.
During her initial appearance in 3rd District Court, Hernandez was appointed an attorney and her bail was set at $25,000. She is scheduled to return to court for a scheduling conference on Aug. 28 at 9 a.m. before Judge Matthew Bates.