Photo: Tiffany Gail Johnson
A former employee at the Baxter County Detention Center charged with stealing an inmate’s medications appeared in Baxter County Circuit Court Thursday.
Thirty-eight-year-old Tiffany Gail Johnson was arrested in late February. Her charges include breaking or entering, possession of controlled substances and theft of property.
Johnson pled guilty to the charges against her and was given four years probation.
As he was going through the plea taking process, Circuit Judge John Putman asked Johnson what she had done with the pills she had taken. She answered she “flushed them, this was the biggest mistake I have ever made.”
According to the probable cause affidavit, on Feb. 27, the jail nurse was distributing medications to inmates.
One inmate had a prescription for hydrocodone. The prisoner told the nurse he believed there were fewer pills in the bottle than there should have been.
The pills in the bottle were counted and came up six short.
The nurse told other jail staff about the discrepancy in the pill count, and an investigation was launched.
A review of surveillance footage was done. Johnson was seen approaching the medicine cart at about 5:15 a.m.
She could be seen pulling out a drawer of the cart, reaching in and opening a white paper sack. She then reaches into the sack and appears to be twisting the lid off a prescription bottle.
Johnson then cups her left hand, puts the sack back, closes the drawer and leaves the area.
Along with other current and former jail staff, Johnson was interviewed and given a Computer Voice Stress Analyzer test.
She was shown to be deceptive when asked about the missing narcotics. She was then made aware of what the video footage reveals. At that point, Johnson was reported to have admitted taking the medication for her own purposes.
Johnson began working for the sheriff’s office as a part-time jail matron in October 2017. She became a full-time employee in early 2018. Following her arrest in February, she was fired.
WebReadyTM Powered by WireReady® NSI