Librarian smuggled paper infused with synthetic marijuana in jail drug ring, Massachusetts sheriff says
By Mike Toole
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DARTMOUTH, Massachusetts (WBZ) — A librarian is accused of smuggling sheets of paper infused with synthetic marijuana in a drug ring at the Bristol County jail in Dartmouth, Massachusetts.
She’s one of five people charged in what the sheriff called the “largest alleged employee drug bust” in the jail’s history.
The investigation began back in March after authorities discovered someone was smuggling synthetic marijuana, also known as K-2 or “spice,” into the jail.
According to the sheriff, 25-year-old inmate Joseph Housley of Rehoboth was selling thousands of dollars’ worth of the drugs to other inmates, and he had help from four people on the outside.
One of them, investigators said, was the jail’s librarian, 46-year-old Ginger Hook of New Bedford. They said she had smuggled the drugs several times in sheets of paper that were infused with synthetic marijuana. Authorities then put her under surveillance in June.
They allegedly caught her delivering 13 pages of drug-laced paper to Housley. It was in a folder disguised as “legal work,” according to Sheriff Paul Heroux.
“It was estimated to be worth approximately $65,000 when sold inside the jail,” Heroux said in a statement Monday announcing the charges.
Hook resigned a month later when she was confronted about the incident. She and Housley were indicted last month along with the three others, 31-year-old Brandin Barbosa-Mayo of New Bedford, 33-year-old Bestlee Vasquez of Somerset and 23-year-old Axel Hazard of Rhode Island.
No other information is available at this point in the investigation. Dartmouth, Massachusetts is about 57 miles south of Boston.
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