ORANGE COUNTY, Calif. (KERO) — An Orange County jail received an unexpected delivery after a man attempted to use a drone to smuggle drugs into the facility.
This may be one for the books.
A bizarre drug delivery inside an Orange County jail courtyard dropped off by a drone.
"There was meth, heroin, Xanax, and other prescription medications attached to the drone," said Sgt. Ryan Anderson from the Orange County Sheriff's Department.
The Orange County District Attorney says 41-year-old Chey Smart stood somewhere outside the jail and controlled the drone.
The drugs were dropped on Sunday but the drone sat undetected until Tuesday.
"An inmate worker actually found the drone in the outdoor area and notified the deputies that it was located there in the ground," said Anderson.
Detectives say the suspect's acquaintance is 30-year-old megan donovan, who is serving time in Theo Lacy Jail for a similar crime and used the recorded jail phone to orchestrate the drop off.
"The female suspect was working with the male who was controlling the drone from outside the jail to assist him in landing the drone," said Anderson.
Detectives were able to connect the the suspect to the drone hours later.
They arrested him inside a Costa Mesa apartment he rented under a stolen identity.
Inside they found assault weapons, drugs, paraphernalia, evidence of identity theft, and the remote to the drone.
"This is the first successful recovery and investigation of a drone inside one of our custody facilities," said Anderson.
