Corrections officers at James Crabtree Correctional Center (JCCC) in Helena detained a man near the prison Saturday, Sept. 10. Daniel Tyran Ross, 32, was charged in Alfalfa County with two felonies: unauthorized entry into prison and bringing contraband into a penal institution.
About 6:45 a.m. on Sept. 10, a correctional officer was monitoring cameras in central control and noticed three inmates standing in on the northeast corner of the minimum security unit (MSU) yard. He then saw someone in the orchard directly north of MSU. The perimeter officer and a K-9 officer were notified to respond, and the Helena Police Department was contacted.
Correctional Supervisor Ray Schmidt arrived on the scene and saw a man with a beard wearing all black clothing and lying on the ground being detained. The suspect, Ross, had a blue bag with six bundles wrapped in electrical tape. Helena Police Chief Jim Dykes arrived and took Ross into custody.
When opened, the packages were found to contain six pounds of tobacco, seven cellphones, eight cellphone chargers, a package of rolling papers, three grams of a green leafy substance, two grams of a white powdery substance and one gram of a white crystal substance.
The green leafy substance field tested positive for marijuana; the white crystal substance field tested positive for methamphetamine, and the white powdery substance field tested positive for cocaine.
Alfalfa County Sheriff Rick Wallace and Deputy Gary Mast interviewed Ross on Sept. 11. He said he met a woman named Bethany on a website called “Tagged” who asked him if he would be interested in throwing footballs over the fence at JCCC to her boyfriend. He said she offered to pay him $600 to make contraband drops.
Ross said soon after he began receiving phone calls from a man named “Perm” who is an inmate at JCCC. Ross admitted to making two separate drops at JCCC, however he stated Bethany left the vehicle and threw packages on his first trip approximately one and one-half weeks earlier.
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