Police amazed at amount of contraband inmate was able to smuggle into jail

A full load of contraband entered the Chelan County Regional Justice Center on Wednesday night, leaving law enforcement officers amazed.

Coming in rectally - via one person - were a green cigarette lighter, cigarette rolling papers, a golf-ball size bag of tobacco, a bottle of tattoo ink, eight tattoo needles, a one-inch-long smoking pipe and a small bag of suspected marijuana, said Sgt. John Kruse, a Wenatchee Police Department spokesman.

"We were all wondering, ’How do you put all that up there?’ " Kruse said. "The tobacco was pretty impressive; it was a good ounce." Gavin Stanger, 24, of East Wenatchee, was booked into jail at about 10 p.m. on a misdemeanor charge of disorderly conduct, said Phil Stanley, jail administrator. The inmate had arranged to serve three days in jail on the charge.

He said no contraband was found on a pat-down search or on a later strip search. About 90 minutes later, with Stanger in a single holding jail, a jailer found a plastic bag and duct tape floating in the cell’s toilet. After being questioned by jailers, the man surrendered the contraband. He will be charged with another misdemeanor: introduction of contraband into the jail, Kruse said.