Chicken sandwiches, drugs, cellphones among Fulton County Jail contraband

FULTON COUNTY, Ga. - Two men were busted for trying to fly drugs into the Fulton County Jail using a handy, dandy drone, according to the Fulton County Sheriff's Office.

What we know:

Deputies say witnesses reported seeing a car that looked out of place parked on a dead-end residential street that sits adjacent to the jail.

On April 1, they received a tip that a drone was flying in the area.

They obtained a search warrant for the vehicle and ended up finding the drone – complete with controller and case – marijuana, multiple pills including suspected oxycodone, 48 packs of cigarettes, over 100 loose cigarettes, paracord, plastic packaging, and nine cell phones.

Richard Redding and Jeffrey Jenkins were arrested and charged with the following:

Richard Redding's charges

• Conspiracy to commit a felony (1 count)
• Trafficking in illegal drugs (1 count)
• Criminal attempt to commit a felony (1 count)
• Possession of tools for commission of a crime (2 counts)
• Possession of controlled substance in schedule III, IV or V (1 count)
• VGCSA – Possession of controlled substance in schedule I or II with intent to distribute (2 counts)
• Possession of prohibited items by inmate or providing prohibited items to inmate (1 count)
• Purchase, possession, manufacture, distribution, or sale of marijuana (1 count)
• Knowingly driving motor vehicle on suspended, canceled, or revoked registration (1 count)

Jeffrey Jenkins' charges

• Conspiracy to commit a felony (1 count)
• Trafficking in illegal drugs (1 count)
• Criminal attempt to commit a felony (1 count)
• Possession of tools for commission of a crime (2 counts)
• Possession of controlled substance in schedule III, IV or V (1 count)
• VGCSA – Possession of controlled substance in schedule I or II with intent to distribute (2 counts)
• Possession of prohibited items by inmate or providing prohibited items to inmate (1 count)
• Purchase, possession, manufacture, distribution, or sale of marijuana (1 count)

The two now find themselves in jail, being held without bond.

What they're saying:

"This is one of the largest contraband seizures that we’ve had, you know, in quite a while. So, we were very, very happy that we were able to intercept all of those drugs and cell phones before they made it inside the building," said Natalie Ammons, the director of communications for the Fulton County Sheriff's Office.

Dig deeper:

Keeping the skies clear above the jail is an ongoing problem for the Fulton County Sheriff’s Office. 

"We have to watch the skies because, I would say at least once a week there is some sort of [drone] sighting or  we hear it, you know, the 'buzzing' noise," Ammons said. 

Every time there is a sighting or report of a drone, deputies do a perimeter check around the jail. 

But experts like Professor of Information Systems at Emory University Ramnath Chellappa say there’s technology that's readily available that could jam these drone’s frequencies. 

 "Most of the drones we see, they're not really that sophisticated. They're pretty much operating on certain standard frequencies. And usually these are 2.4 gigahertz and 5.8 gigahertz …these are very well known frequencies and that are very standard technologies that can jam. And essentially the idea of jamming means that you overwhelm a particular frequency in which you're communicating with the drone. And that basically does not allow effective communication between the controller and the actual drone itself," Chellappa said. 

Ammons says the Sheriff’s Office has looked at technology that could detect and potentially jam drones, but they don’t have a timeline yet of when they could actually install that kind of tech here at the jail. 

Dig deeper:

This is the second recently foiled plan to smuggle drugs into the jail, according to Sheriff Pat Labat.

Just last weekend, officials discovered McDonald's chicken sandwiches and suspected oxycodone tangled in the barbed wire fence surrounding the jail.

The packaging of the items from that incident reportedly matches some packaging found during this latest drug bust. Officials believe the two incidents may be related.

What you can do:

The Fulton County Sheriff’s Office is trying to crack down on people flying drones around the premises. They're asking anyone with information about a crime, including someone attempting to smuggle contraband into the Fulton County Jail, to submit a tip through the Crime Stoppers platform. Tips can be made anonymously by calling 404-577-TIPS(8477), texting CSGA to 738477, downloading the P3 Tips mobile app, or submitting a tip through the website.

If the tip leads to an arrest, the tipster may be eligible for up to a $5,000 reward.

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