HILLSBOROUGH COUNTY, Fla. (WFLA) — A Hillsborough County deputy is fortunate to be alive after being exposed to Fentanyl inside the jail.
According to the Hillsborough County Sheriff’s Office, the incident happened Aug. 18, around 6:30 p.m. while Deputy Ismael Contreras was conducting a routine search at the Falkenburg Road Jail when he was exposed to a powdery substance near an inmate’s bunk area.
According to a release, Deputy Contreras quickly sealed the powder in a rubber glove in an effort to minimize his exposure to the unknown substance, which tested positive for Fentanyl.
Within minutes the deputy felt the adverse effects and nearly passed out, according to HCSO.
He alerted deputies and another HCSO team member gave two doses of Narcan to Deputy Contreras. He was then rushed to Tampa General Hospital for treatment.
Deputy Contreras has since returned to work.
The Sheriff’s Office declined to comment on camera, but confirmed an investigation is underway to determine how the drug got into the jail.
“This scary situation is one that no deputy should ever have to endure,” Sheriff Chad Chronister said in a statement. “Our team remains committed to eliminating illegal drugs in our detention facilities.”
On Monday, Attorney General Ashley Moody held an event for National Fentanyl Awareness Day and used the opportunity to bring attention to the HCSO incident, and others involving law enforcement in recent weeks.
“You expect that those jobs are dangerous. The increase in which we are placing law enforcement officers, and first responders that are coming into contact with fentanyl is frightening,” said Moody. “The most important thing we can do today is sound the alarm. It’s frightening but Fentanyl is now being found in almost every illicit drug.”
“Fentanyl is a major problem,” said Jose Rojas, President of the Local 506 Bureau of Prisons which covers Coleman Correctional Facility in Florida, the largest federal prison in the country. “We tell our deputies to be careful when you’re conducting a search on an inmate, or an inmate’s property because this can be the result. In the federal prison system throughout the country where we’ve had the same issue. We’ve had to rush staff to the hospital.”
Rojas said they’re constantly working to overcome the problem. “They can get it in either through visitation, or believe it or not, sneak it in through babies, their babies pampers or even sneak in through through the mail. This is a deadly issue and this is a serious issue.”