POLICE: METH IN CIGARETTES JAILER GAVE TO INMATE

A Floyd County Jail guard has been charged with giving an inmate a pack of
cigarettes that, according to a police affidavit, contained methamphetamine.

Allen Ray Jr., who has been fired, has admitted that three times in the
past month while on duty he gave cigarettes to inmate Keith Woods,
according the affidavit filed by Detective Jeff Topping.

But Ray, 40, of New Albany, denied knowing that the illegal drug was in the
cigarette packs.

An internal affairs investigation that was begun in August initially
examined only the delivery of the cigarettes.

But in the middle of that investigation, on Sept. 8, inmate Jonathan
Rodewig was hospitalized after overdosing on methamphetamine, according to
the affidavit. Rodewig, who has since recovered, was in the same cellblock
as Woods.

Lt. Dan Emily interviewed other inmates in the cellblock and discovered
that Ray "was trafficking packs of cigarettes with inmate Keith D. Woods,
and inside of the packs of cigarettes was methamphetamine," Topping wrote.

The affidavit says Ray got the cigarette packs from Woods' girlfriend and
passed them on to Woods. No charges have been filed against Woods or his
girlfriend.

Wayne Kessinger, an investigator for Floyd County Prosecutor Keith
Henderson, said no charges have been filed against anyone else in the case.

Trafficking with an inmate is a Class A misdemeanor punishable by up to a
year in jail.

Floyd County Detective Neal Houglin said inmates are required to buy their
cigarettes from the jail commissary to reduce the possibility of contraband
being smuggled in.

Ray had been a jail guard for less than two months when he was fired. He
was hired on July 21 and passed the first cigarette pack to Woods in early
August, according to the affidavit. He is free on bond and scheduled for a
Nov. 12 pretrial conference.