A Fort Mill man was among three inmates who overdosed on Fentanyl overnight while being housed at the York County Detention Center, authorities said.
Colton Lukas Haire, 25, of Fort Mill, and two other inmates were rushed to the hospital, where they were treated and released back to jail, according to sheriff’s Public Information Officer Trent Faris. (Haire has been in jail since March on charges of attempted murder, burglary, assault & battery, assaulting police officers while resisting and escape.)
The overdoses led to the discovery of at least 135 fentanyl pills in the jail, including 95 that were recovered as an inmate tried to flush it down the toilet.
Between 11:30 p.m. Wednesday and 12:15 a.m. Thursday, three inmates were found by officers unresponsive in their cells. NARCAN was immediately administered to the inmates and all were taken to local hospital facilities by EMS for further assessment and care.
After the first inmate was found, detention staff increased inmate well-being checks from every half hour to every 15 minutes, Faris said. During these checks, two more inmates were found unresponsive.
During an investigation into the distribution of the pills, inmate Tyquan Rodriguez Green, 25, of Charlotte, was caught trying to dispose of 95 pressed fentanyl pills in a toilet. Detention staff were able to retrieve the pills before they were flushed. He was charged with possession with intent to distribute a Schedule II narcotic and possession of contraband.
A follow-up search of the housing unit was conducted during the day on Wednesday, and inmates Keon Arquis Davis, 27, of Rock Hill, and Tyler Mitchell Fesperman, 27, of Rock Hill, were found to be in possession of approximately 40 pills. Both were also charged with possession with intent to distribute a Schedule II narcotic and possession of contraband.
One of the inmates that overdosed on the Wednesday night, 29-year-old Jacob Dwayne Hall of Clover was found to be in possession of 24 pills. Hall was charged with possession with intent to distribute a Schedule II narcotic and possession of contraband.
Hall’s cellmate, 30-year-old Leroy Westberry III of Rock Hill, was also charged the same. Inmate Westberry did not overdose.
The two other inmates that overdosed, Colton Lukas Haire, 25, of Fort Mill, and Trampus Keith Faile, 46, of Richburg, did not have additional pills in their possession and were not criminally charged.
“It is clearly disturbing as to how these pills were brought into the facility, and even more so the life-threatening risk that the inmates posed on themselves by taking such a dangerous narcotic,” said Sheriff Kevin Tolson in a press release.
After the overdose incidents another intense shake down search of the housing unit was conducted, and no additional pills or contraband were located.
“We are searching the entire facility and all inmates for any further pills,” said Tolson. “This is the first time that this large of an amount of contraband has made it past our stringent security screenings, and we will work to prevent something like this to happen again.”
It is unclear how Tyquan Green, who has been in custody at the YCDC since August 25, brought the pills into the facility. During the arrest and booking process all inmates are physically searched several times and put through a body scanner. The pills were not discovered or seen during those searches.
But it isn’t the first time fentanyl pills have been confiscated.
“We have never found this many in one case,” Faris said.
Additional housing unit searches have not found any more pills. All inmates taken to the hospital have since been returned to the jail, and the investigation is ongoing.