DRUG BUST MADE IN JAIL SEX SCANDAL

ROXBORO -- Person County authorities say they have the man in custody
responsible for smuggling marijuana into the Person County Jail. Person
County Sheriff's deputies arrested Eugene Lee Skipworth, 19, of South
Boston, Va., on Saturday morning after he failed to show up for his weekend
sentence at the jail Friday night. Skipworth was arrested at an undisclosed
location and charged with felony possession of a controlled substance on
jail premises and a probation violation, said Sheriff Dennis Oakley.

Skipworth had been serving a 42-day jail sentence for a felony breaking and
entering conviction in July. The sentence was to be served on 21
consecutive weekends.

Instead, "he's a permanent customer right now," Oakley said, with a bond
set at $7,000.

Since early September, the sheriff's department has investigated the
presence of pot at the jail. The investigation stems from a four-night romp
between male and female inmates who broke into a canteen area. The female
inmates allegedly stripped for the men after their first encounter, and
then four male and four female inmates allegedly had sex two nights later.

Authorities believe the men used marijuana to barter for sex and that
Skipworth is the man allegedly responsible for supplying the drug.

Skipworth was not one of the 13 inmates charged last month with offenses
ranging from prostitution to breaking and entering in the sex scandal.

On Thursday, Oakley told The Herald-Sun no more charges would arise from
the investigation after an inmate "failed miserably" in a lie detector
test. But a Friday encounter with a Person County official changed Oakley's
mind, he said.

Leigh Woodall, a onetime commissioner and current head of the county's
Republican Party, showed the sheriff a letter Friday that he'd written to
the Roxboro Courier-Times.

In the letter, titled "Fire the sheriff," Woodall asked, "The big question
still to be answered is where did the marijuana come from?

"Does the investigative report conclude that [the pot] fell into the jail
from above just like manna from heaven?"

Republican Dempsey Dunn is running against Oakley in the Nov. 5 election.

Oakley said his deputies and jail officers were conducting an undercover
drug investigation of Skipworth since September. A future arrest was
likely, he said, but Woodall's letter "forced my hand on that deal," Oakley
said.

"We were trying to catch [Skipworth] coming into the jail smuggling more
drugs," Oakley said.

Although Skipworth was charged with possession of drugs on jail premises,
Oakley said no drugs had ever been found on him.

"I was hoping we would take another drug dealer off the street with a
little meat to the arrest," he said.

Asked how a letter to the editor could have forced his hand on the arrest,
Oakley said, "it's coming at a time when I'm seeking reelection. "It's like
(the public) thinks I'm not doing anything about it. I was trying to keep
(Skipworth) as confidential as I could for the investigation's sake."

Oakley said Skipworth was allegedly swallowing a small, deflated balloon
filled with pot before coming to the jail on Friday nights. Once he got
through the strip search and into his holding pod, Skipworth would then
drink a concoction of shampoo and water to force himself to throw up the
balloon.

Then, he would use the paper packaging of an unused roll of toilet paper to
roll joints and sell them to fellow inmates, Oakley said.

In a telephone interview Monday, Woodall asked, "Does anyone in their right
mind think that a simple letter to the editor can force the sheriff's hand?"

Woodall said the State Bureau of Investigation, which administered the
polygraph test on one inmate, should be called in to perform an independent
investigation of the jail incidents.