DECATUR, Ill. (WAND) – Coloring book pages laced with meth were mailed to a Macon County Jail inmate, deputies say.
According to sworn statements, deputies learned in late March that six inmates at the jail had been buying torn-off pieces of the pages from inmate Damien Mcclure, 36. Mcclure is accused of having the inmates send money to his inmate commissary account using the Macon County Jail “Gift Card System”.
Deputies say they field tested a piece of the coloring book paper and got a positive result for meth.
Another letter with a coloring book page was mailed to the jail on April 8, deputies say, and tested positive for meth at a state police crime lab. It was turned over to detectives.
Statements say deputies listened to jail phone calls from Mcclure to several people. They say he talked to a Tammy L. Leigh, 46, on April 9 and asked her to “perfect the method” before adding that she had sent him “professional” letters on which “you couldn’t even tell nothing was there”. Deputies say he made this request because he had been sentenced on the same day to prison. Court records show Mcclure will serve eight years behind bars after pleading guilty to an armed habitual criminal charge.
In another phone call placed on April 11, deputies say Mcclure talked to a different woman and talked about getting her to sell Vicodin pills. He asked if she could “cut (him) in somehow” on the profits.
Leigh was interviewed by Decatur police detectives at the Decatur Police Department headquarters on April 24 and arrested. Investigators say she admitted to sending at least two or three meth-laced “cards” to Mcclure and told them she soaked pages in meth before sending them. They say she also admitted to making deposits in the suspect’s commissary account.
In total, deputies say an April 14 report found over $2,800 was deposited in Mcclure’s commissary account after his arrest.
Mcclure and Leigh both face charges of calculated criminal drug conspiracy, manufacture/delivery of meth and possessing contraband in a penal institution. Mcclure’s bond is $250,000, while Leigh’s is set at $30,000.
