Staff Report

Rachelle Dale Dickey

WARSAW — A Warsaw woman is facing new criminal charges after sneaking drugs into the Kosciusko County Jail and distributing them to inmates.

Rachelle Dale Dickey, 30, 2016 E. Market St., Warsaw, is charged with trafficking with an inmate, a level 5 felony; and possession of methamphetamine, a level 6 felony.

On June 14, Dickey was booked in the Kosciusko County Jail for a drug court violation. According to court documents, the violation was a result of a positive drug test for methamphetamine.

On June 15, Dickey told a Kosciusko County Corrections officer that someone trafficked methamphetamine into the jail during her incarceration on June 14. Dickey said she used meth before a court appointment and while in the jail’s “drunk tank.”

On June 20, KCJ staff became aware of drug use in the jail’s trustee block. Drug screenings were completed on the inmates in the block. Two of the inmates tested positive for meth and three tested positive for suboxone, which is used to decrease the severity of withdrawal symptoms.

At the time of the drug testing, all five inmates had been incarcerated for a reasonable amount of time to indicate the drug use took place in the jail.

A Kosciusko County Sheriff’s detective reviewed video from June 14 of the jail’s drunk tank. In the video, Dickey is shown retrieving an item of contraband from a body cavity and rolling the item up in her jail uniform’s waist band. Dickey is also seen passing some kind of contraband under the drunk tank door to a jail trustee who was sweeping. That trustee was one of the two inmates who tested positive for methamphetamine.

The detective later interviewed two female inmates who were in the drunk tank with Dickey on June 14. One of the inmates told the detective she was offered drugs by “the girl who was booked in on a drug court violation.” The detective confirmed Dickey was the only inmate booked for a drug court violation on that date.

The second inmate said Dickey brought drugs into the jail through a body crevice. She also saw Dickey pass the contraband under the drunk tank door to the trustee.

One of the inmates who tested positive for suboxone said he was returning to his room in the jail when he saw two inmates in his room preparing to use the drug. He said the drugs were supplied through the jail’s laundry, which is a trustee detail completed by inmates.

Dickey is a current participant in drug treatment court on pending charges for syringe and methamphetamine possession. She was previously convicted of methamphetamine and narcotic drug possession in January 2019.

On Aug. 4, the warrant on this case was served to Dickey while she was in jail. She has a $10,250 surety and cash bond.