Removing dangerous drugs, such as fentanyl, from our community and keeping them out of our jails is integral to MCSO’s mission of keeping the community safe. In accordance with this mission, below is information about an incident that occurred Monday January 5th, highlighting the success of MCSO Special Response Team’s (SRT) K-9 unit after four months of operation.
On Sunday 02/04/24, 41-year-old Leticia Verney was arrested by Arizona Department of Corrections, Rehabilitation and Reentry (ADCRR) on conspiracy charges because they had recordings of her plans to bring drugs into visits at Lewis Prison. When Verney was brought into the MCSO’s Intake, Transfer and Release Jail and placed on the search wall, MCSO K-9, Bear, alerted its handler, MCSO Officer Samaniego. Verney was subsequently searched, and a package was discovered on her person. Below are photos of the package and its contents, which were the following:
One (1) ounce of heroin
One (1) ounce of methamphetamine
200 fentanyl pills
Seven (7) grams of marijuana
"This quantity and classification of narcotics is worth thousands of dollars on the streets, and potentially tens of thousands of dollars in a custody setting. Without the K-9 alert, there would have been a great probability that these drugs would have made it into our jails, impacting the safety of the inmates and our staff in potentially deadly ways", said Chief Deputy Russ Skinner.