Three Correctional Officers Resign Amid Allegations of Drug Trafficking and Overdose Death of Suspected Inmate

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COLUMBUS COUNTY, NC (WECT) – The State Department of Public Safety has launched an internal investigation after an inmate in Tabor Corrections died from an alleged overdose amid allegations of correctional officers making smuggling drugs into the prison.

Three correctional officers named in two separate incident reports filed by the Tabor Town Police Department resigned last week. Only one faces criminal charges at present, although the State Bureau of Investigation has opened an investigation into the case.

Editor’s Note: WECT does not name the other two correctional officers because they have not been charged with any felony.

Investigators filed their first report, with the crime / incident listed as negligent manslaughter, on November 18, six days after an inmate, Dustin Goodson, was taken to hospital by prison staff for an overdose suspected drug. Speaking to officers on November 16, associate director Jamie Bullard said he was investigating a prison sergeant and another inmate.

Bullard said they believed (the sergeant) brought the drugs into the prison for (the other inmate), the report said. The inmate also provided a written statement that he had received drugs from the sergeant, according to the report.

On November 18, the day after Goodson’s death, investigators met again with Bullard, who showed them videos of the night Goodson apparently overdosed. Bullard also said the sergeant left work early that day after being questioned and had not returned to work since.

(The sergeant) also asked another member of staff to bring his things to him from his office, officers wrote in the report. During the search of the deceased’s cell, two small strips of suboxone were found in the inmates’ cell and were recovered by prison staff.

Investigators spoke with a deputy district attorney, who requested that an autopsy be performed on Goodson.

Staff records for the sergeant obtained by WECT indicate that he began working at the Tabor Correctional Service in December 2018 and had been in the DPS since May 2014. He resigned his post on Monday.

Investigators filed a separate drug trafficking / smuggling report following their conversation with Bullard on November 18. While talking about Goodson, Bullard mentioned that prison staff found more drugs under a podium in one unit.

Video from the area showed Constable Wesley Thompson retrieving two packages from under the podium, placing envelopes on them and delivering them to an inmate cell. More than 121 grams of synthetic marijuana were discovered during a search of the cell.

Investigators then interviewed Thompson and another officer working on the same shift. The second officer admitted that she was aware of Thompson’s drug activity.

(The officer) said Thompson came to see her and asked her if she wanted to earn extra money on several occasions but didn’t want anything to do with it, investigators wrote in the report. . (The officer) also said that Thompson told him he was bringing the drugs into prison by hiding it in the soles of his boots. (The officer) said that Tuesday evening Thompson told him he had a lot of it and needed to get rid of it ASAP.

The officer added that she discouraged Thompson from bringing drugs into the jail and denied monitoring Thompson when asked about his appearance in the video footage.

Thompson asked to speak to his lawyer during his interview. He was arrested and charged with trafficking synthetic cannabinoids in the prison.

Thompson had been a correctional officer with Tabor Correctional since July 2018 before resigning on Monday. The other shift officer with Thompson had been with Tabor Corrections since June 2019. She resigned last Friday.

A spokesperson for DPS provided the following statement when contacted for comment:

The Department of Public Security has zero tolerance for any staff member involved in illegal activity and is fully cooperating with this ongoing investigation. The Ministry has many hard-working correctional professionals and takes employee arrests very seriously. These allegations are also the subject of an internal investigation.

Drug smuggling into prisons is a nationwide problem, not just a North Carolina problem. It is a constant battle, fought daily. There is no doubt that drugs do enter prisons despite considerable efforts to prevent them from entering. As soon as we plug a hole in an area, the offenders find a solution.

Drugs are thrown over fences (often stuffed into footballs or basketballs), hidden in mail, brought in by staff, or smuggled during visits. Local law enforcement, whether it’s a police department or a sheriff’s office, is called in whenever someone is caught trying to smuggle drugs.

Over the past four years, the Prisons Division has:

Implementation of a zero tolerance policy for any person, visitor or staff, who is caught bringing contraband. Increased use of dogs to search prison perimeters for drugs, searches of facilities and entry checks. High fence height in some prisons to prevent rollovers Installed motion detectors in some facilities to help detect rollovers Digital mail instituted, so offenders receive high quality copies of mail sent to them This is intended to prevent the introduction of liquefied drugs or odorless colorless suboxone bands from hiding in the envelopes. Here is a press release on this initiative, which was extended system-wide last month: https://www.ncdps.gov/news/press-releases/2021/09/15/prison-system-upgrades -offender-mail-security. And other strategies, we can’t discuss giving too much information thwarting what we’re trying to do.

We educate, train and do all we can to keep contraband out.

Prisons have zero tolerance for smuggling into any prison from any source. We absolutely and fully support the prosecution of those responsible.

Copyright 2021 WECT. All rights reserved.

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