Deputies: Woman left contraband items on prison grounds for inmates

A North Port woman was arrested Tuesday after authorities say she trespassed onto state prison property to leave contraband for inmates.

Jessica Haller, 22, faces multiple charges after a five-month investigation, the Charlotte County Sheriff’s Office said Thursday.

Haller is accused of leaving items such as cell phones, lighters, drugs, cigarettes, and jewelry for inmates at Charlotte Correctional Institution. Authorities say Haller would trespass onto prison property through the wooded land surrounding the grounds, where she would leave the contraband.

Claudette Bennett with the Charlotte County Sheriff’s Office said, “They were able to connect Haller to her boyfriend who was an inmate within the Charlotte correctional institution.”

Detectives found messages and photos of items that were later found among the contraband.

The contraband also included electrical tape, which CCSO said is often utilized to make internal concealment easier, a process often referred to as “body-packing.”

Haller is facing several charges that include trafficking phenethylamines, the introduction of a controlled substance into a state correctional institution, criminal attempt to solicit or conspire, drug paraphernalia transportation, possession of marijuana, introduction of a cell phone into a state correctional institution, trafficking synthetic cannabinoids, and using a two-way communications device to facilitate a felony.

Haller has since bonded out of jail.

Reporter Erika Jackson contributed to this report.

Florida Department of Corrections statement

“The Department uses every tool at their disposal to mitigate violence and contraband within our institutions. Correctional Officers are diligent in their efforts to search inmates and common areas to eradicate weapons and remove dangerous and illegal contraband. FDC would like to thank Sheriff Bill Prummell and the Charlotte County Sheriff’s Office for their work on this case.”