DRUG DEALING IN MARION COUNTY JAILS UNDER INVESTIGATION

INDIANAPOLIS -- Investigators are seeking the source of illegal drugs in
two Marion County jail facilities.

The wife of one inmate under investigation testified she received money
orders at home from strangers. Another inmate tested positive for cocaine
after a three-day stay behind bars.

The apparently unrelated incidents involve the six-month-old Marion County
Jail II, a privately run facility, and the Marion County Lockup.

Billy Romeril, warden of the new jail, said his investigators have been
looking at the actions of former inmate Timothy M. Lawson, 37, and his wife.

Lawson, a three-time convicted burglar and jail kitchen worker, was
transferred to the Department of Correction last week after pleading guilty
to a business break-in and receiving a 10-year sentence.

Romeril said Lawson had been under investigation since January when
allegations of drug trafficking surfaced. He said four or five people on
the outside were dealing drugs with Lawson.

Lawson has denied the allegations.

Romeril said investigators believe Lawson's wife was "acting as a mule and
doing all the drug transactions on the outside."

Lawson appeared in Marion Superior Court for sentencing on May 15 and his
wife, Michelle, was there to testify on his behalf.

But prosecutors were waiting with questions about several money orders,
uncovered by jail investigators, which were made out to her for amounts
ranging from $25 to $100.

"She said she just didn't know where they came from. They arrived (in the
mail) and looked good to her," said Deputy Prosecutor Barbara Trathen. "She
said she just had no clue why."

Trathen said the money orders were from other women -- girlfriends or wives
of jail inmates -- unknown to Michelle Lawson and which arrived unsolicited
at her home address.

Romeril said the Lawson case is the first drug investigation at the new
jail facility, which houses Marion County inmates as well as DOC and other
prisoners.

Investigators are still working on the case and no charges have been filed
yet.

DOC officials were alerted to Lawson's alleged involvement in trafficking,
Trathen added.

The other investigation involved a temporary inmate at the county lockup
who tested negative for drugs the day she was put behind bars -- and
positive for cocaine the day she was released.

Officials identified the inmate as Barbara A. Ramey, 39, who pleaded guilty
to prescription offenses last week and was given a suspended sentence and a
year of probation.

Ramey had tested positive for cocaine at least four times while out of jail
awaiting trial in her case. She was ordered into court on April 28 but
denied she had been using drugs, court officials said.

Ramey was given a drug test and placed in the lockup for three days while
officials awaited the results, officials said.

After that test came back negative, she was released May 1 and reported to
the pre-trial release office, where she was given another test -- which
came back positive for cocaine.

"Certainly when she'd been released on that day, the only logical
conclusion you could draw was the source of the drugs was where she was
living, which was the jail," said Superior Court Judge David Dreyer.

But Ramey denied in court that she had used cocaine while in custody, court
officials said.

And Deputy Chief Russ Tuttle of the sheriff's department said it was
unclear where she got drugs since she had been out of jail for about an
hour before being tested.

But Tuttle said investigators were looking into the matter and
drug-sniffing dogs were taken through the lockup on Friday to check for drugs.

Ramey has since been released after pleading guilty with the condition that
she undergo random urinalysis and any positive drug tests would result in
another 10-day jail stay.

Checked-by: Mike Gogulski