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Westmoreland County Prison inmates charged with hiding drugs in peanut butter jar | TribLIVE.com
Westmoreland

Westmoreland County Prison inmates charged with hiding drugs in peanut butter jar

Renatta Signorini
Renatta Signorini
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Two inmates at the Westmoreland County Prison were arrested this week after county detectives said they hid paper containing synthetic marijuana inside a jar of peanut butter, according to court papers.

Jail guards found the paper inside a cell occupied by Dameon Jerod Hill, 30, and Allen Coker III, 25, both of Garfield, Allegheny County.

Hill and Coker were arraigned Wednesday on charges of contraband and conspiracy.

Westmoreland County detectives said the cell was searched July 3 and the paper was found wrapped in plastic in the jar. Coker told jail guards it belonged to him, but the paper had written on it a 2008 Allegheny County case number in which Hill was the defendant, according to court papers.

A report recently completed by the state police crime lab showed that the substance on the paper contained synthetic marijuana, or K2.

Coker is in jail awaiting re-sentencing in a 2013 drug case. Hill is in jail pretrial on a 2018 drug case.

Neither suspect had an attorney listed in online court records in the new cases. Bond was set at $25,000 each. Preliminary hearings are set for Dec. 6.

For years, officials have worked to keep drugs out of the Hempfield jail.

Prison officials in 2018 busted a Suboxone smuggling operation at the jail after receiving an anonymous tip from an inmate.

In August, county police arrested a Jeannette couple after investigators said a woman was leaving Suboxone strips, pills and tobacco inside a district court bathroom for her boyfriend to retrieve after a hearing and take back to jail.

Last month, an Armstrong County woman was arrested for allegedly mailing prescription painkillers inside a greeting card to her incarcerated boyfriend.

Renatta Signorini is a Tribune-Review staff writer. You can contact Renatta at 724-837-5374, [email protected] or via Twitter .

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