AirDrop-of-drugs-by-drone--to a prison?That's what MD corrections officials say 2 men plotted in Western Maryland pic.twitter.com/skxh43S7Rs
— Kate Ryan (@KateRyanWTOP) August 24, 20152 arrests outside of MD #prison in Cumberland. Officials believe plans for #drones to deliver drugs, porn and more. pic.twitter.com/ql6U2ApbHk
— Kate Ryan (@KateRyanWTOP) August 24, 2015
JESSUP, Md. — The newest threat to prison security may not come from inside prisons, but from outside — in the form of drones.
Maryland correctional officials say two men were arrested Saturday night in Cumberland, Maryland, charged with plotting to pull off an airdrop-by-drone of contraband, including hundreds of packets of suboxone — a drug used to treat opiate addiction. Also included were K-2 or “spice” and CDs of pornography.
The Western Correctional Institution, one of Maryland’ maximum-security prisons, is located in Cumberland.
Stephen Moyer, secretary of Public Safety and Corrections for Maryland, says the two had been under surveillance for some time when they were arrested. Also found inside the car was a Beretta handgun with 13 rounds of ammunition.
Moyer says drones pose a threat to prison safety for a number of reasons. The first being that they’re easy to get.
“You and I can both go on Amazon right now and order as many as we want,” Moyer says.
And as possible delivery tools, they could introduce a dangerous drug inside prison walls.
“Some of the worst encounters I’ve ever had or observed as a police officer were people who were high on ‘spice,’” Moyer says of K-2 — the drug that falls under a category of illegal substances often referred to as synthetic marijuana.
Moyer says drones are a concern because there are few ways to block them from getting over prison walls. He says corrections officials are not going to try to shoot them out of the sky.
“We need to look into the detection devices and then move forward from there,” he says.
Moyer says his greatest concern is maintaining safety within prison facilities. He adds Saturday’s arrests are part of a much wider investigation.
Officials say these are the first arrests on charges of attempting to use a drone to deliver contraband to a Maryland prison.
The investigation also involved an inmate suspected of collaborating with the men, Moyer said. Investigators found contraband in the inmate’s cell and were preparing to charge him, he said.
The men arrested outside the prison are Thaddeus Casimir Shortz, 25, of Knoxville, and Keith Brian Russell, 29, of Silver Spring. Both have served prison time for assault. Russell was convicted on a narcotics charge in 2014, according to online court records.
No defense attorneys are listed for the men in court records. Private attorneys who represented them in the past said they had not been retained for this case.
Shortz was released on bail Sunday. Russell was being held at the Allegany County jail Monday with bail set at $100,000.
WTOP’s Kate Ryan and The Associated Press contributed to this report.
