On April 12, 2016, Maricopa County Sheriff’s detectives received information that methamphetamine was being sprayed onto legal papers and then sent into the jail through the postal service.
Sheriff’s Detectives were lead to the Sheriff’s video visitation program, which started in November 2014 and is the largest in the United States, revealed a conversation between an inmate and Natasha Geach about drugs that were coming into the 4th avenue jail and how the drugs were distributed to the inmates. Further investigation led to a search warrant.
After a search warrant was conducted at a west Phoenix address, Natasha Geach (DOB: 10/30/1985) was arrested for spraying liquid meth onto legal papers and allowing them to dry before mailing them into the jail. The following day search warrants were issued for four cells inside of the 4th Ave jail. The search found numerous items of evidence and contraband. Four subjects, already in custody, could be facing additional Felony charges of promoting prison contraband, and other Felony Drug charges.
Sheriff Joe Arpaio, former head of the US Drug Enforcement Administration in Mexico and also Arizona, has initiated drug testing of inmates with the goal to determine the extent of illegal drug use and/or trafficking in the jails. “If you can’t stop the drug activity in jail, how can we hope to solve the problem on the streets” says Arpaio.