HELENA — A Helena man and women have been charged with Conspiracy(transferring illegal articles), a felony, for allegedly attempting to smuggle drugs into the Lewis and Clark County Detention Center.
31-year-old Michael James George and 28-year-old Victoria Lin Fauque appeared via video in Lewis and Clark County Justice Court on Thursday Dec. 26.
The two are accused of attempting to smuggle Suboxone(Buprenorphine) into the jail by using postage stamps.
Suboxone is a Schedule III controlled substance used to treat addiction to opioids, but the drug can also be abused by users.
According to court documents, Fauque delivered a book of stamps to the Detention Center and informed an officer they were for George who was incarcerated at the time.
Per protocol, all items received for inmates are screened by a K-9 looking for narcotics.
The dog alerted officers to the presence of drugs and officers noticed some of the stamps looked like they were raised up. Upon further inspection, orange strips of Suboxone were found placed under several stamps in the booklet.
Detention staff provided George with a new book of stamps after detectives seized the one delivered by Fauque.
Detectives then reviewed Georges’s calls from the jail and identified one where George allegedly told someone to buy a book of stamps and meet with Fauque; in another George told Fauque there was nothing in the stamps and she should make the next delivery under another inmates name.
Bond for Fauque was set at $5,000, George’s bond was set at $10,000.
They will make their pleas in the case before a District Court Judge on Jan. 15.
