Butte deputies arrest man suspected of bringing fentanyl into jail, leading to overdoses

The Butte County Sheriff’s Office arrested a man who previously turned himself in on a warrant and accused him of smuggling fentanyl into the jail.

In a news release, the Sheriff’s Office said Eric Robert Rehse, 35, turned himself in Wednesday for an outstanding felony warrant for property crimes and brought the drugs into the jail hidden within his anal cavity.

Three other inmates were found early Thursday suffering from opioid overdoses in a medium-security housing unit of the jail. All three were treated with multiple doses of Narcan, which is a form of naloxone, a drug used to treat opioid overdoses.

All three were taken by ambulance to a hospital for treatment. As of Friday, one remained hospitalized. The other two were released back to jail custody.

Later Thursday, another inmate was found suffering from an overdose. He was given doses of Narcan as well, taken to a hospital, and later released.

After a search of the housing unit, deputies found 14.8 grams of fentanyl, 14 grams of which were voluntarily removed from an inmate’s anal cavity. Sheriff’s deputies said that an amount equivalent to a few grains of salt is enough to trigger an overdose if ingested.

On Friday, still another inmate was found in the same housing unit suffering an overdose. He was administered a single dose of Narcan and medically cleared by jail staff.

The Butte Interagency Narcotic Task Force investigated the overdoses, and determined that Rehse was the source of the fentanyl, which the Sheriff’s Office said he had hidden prior to turning himself in and which was removed after a visual strip search upon his detention. Law enforcement suspects that he removed the fentanyl and distributed it to others, who then consumed it.

Rehse, who remained in custody, was arrested on suspicion of bringing a controlled substance into jail and distribution of a controlled substance. The Sheriff’s Office requested felony charges be brought against him by the Butte County District Attorney’s Office.

“It has and continues to be the policy of the Butte County Jail that inmates who are housed be thoroughly searched prior to being initially admitted into the housing areas. Housing intake searches include a thorough visual search of the incoming inmate’s body,” the Sheriff’s Office said in the news release. “However, without probable cause, a court order and assistance from licensed medical professionals, correctional deputies are legally prohibited from physically searching the body cavities of inmates.”

The Butte County jail has naloxone staged throughout its facilities in order to treat overdoses or exposures to opioids. These drugs are sought in unannounced searches of housing units, sometimes accompanied by drug-sniffing K9s. The Sheriff’s Office is also looking into acquiring the funding for a body scanner, which is an imaging device that would allow deputies to detect substances hidden within bodily cavities.

“Keeping contraband out of correctional facilities has always been challenging. As long as there have been jails and prisons, inmates have sought out ways to smuggle drugs into the facilities. Our correctional deputies do their very best, within the bounds of the law, to prevent that from happening,” Butte County Sheriff Kory Honea said in a prepared statement.

“However, given the increased prevalence of fentanyl within the community, the challenges have taken on a greater level of complexity. This recent trend underscores how addiction drives people to do things that may result in their death. This is a significant problem throughout the country as evidenced by the increased number of overdose deaths, driven in large part by highly-potent synthetic opioids, such as fentanyl.”

This story was originally published January 8, 2022 at 3:35 PM.