Nez Perce County- From the office of the Prosecutor
An inmate at the Nez Perce County Detention Center is facing additional charges after being released on a temporary furlough from jail for four hours. Jeremy L. Huntley (39 yoa, Lewiston) was sentence to a term of precision on July 27, 2023. Then, on August 14, 2023, Mr. Huntley was granted a release from custody by District Court Judge Michelle Evans to gather his belongs at a local hotel room and get his affairs in order prior to going on a prison rider. Mr. Huntley was out of custody for only four hours. When Mr. Huntly returned to jail, he was processed through Nez Perce County Detention Center’s brand new body scanner, which showed abnormalities in his lower bowel area. He was the very first inmate to be processed through the scanner.
According to the probable cause affidavit, deputies interviewed Mr. Huntley and learned that while he was on is temporary release from jail, he had acquired several packages of tobacco and drugs to bring back. Deputies accompanied Mr. Huntley to the St. Joseph Regional Hospital where two packages were passed from his body and seized. Upon returning to the jail, Mr. Huntley passed a package, 8.55grams of an unknown pink substance, a single pill of suspected fentanyl and 3.24 grams of suspected methamphetamine.
In Nez Perce County Court today, Mr. Huntley was charged with Introducing Contraband into the Jail, Possession of a Controlled Substances-Fentanyl, and possession of a Controlled Substance- Methamphetamine. The prosecutor’s Office asked for a bond of $80,000 because of his attempt to smuggle drugs into the jail, is currently sentence to a prison term, is a former drug court graduation and he has several prior felony convictions. Nez Perce County Magistrate Judge Sunil Ramalingam issued a bond of $30,000.
“If it wasn’t for the new body scanner its very likely these drugs would have made it to the general jail population- putting jail deputies and inmates at risk” said Prosecutor Justin Coleman.
