(La Porte County, IN) - A man is accused of using a drone to try and smuggle drugs into Westville Correctional Facility.

 

Eric Patino, 29, is charged in La Porte Superior Court 2 with seven felony counts such as dealing in methamphetamine, dealing in cocaine or a narcotic drug and attempted trafficking with an inmate.

 

According to court documents, Warden Jason Smiley about 1:30 a.m. on Friday was notified by a security company monitoring the air space about a drone in the air around the prison.

 

Smiley joined by a La Porte County Police officer were walking a tree line just outside the prison when a man later identified as Patino emerged from the brush and started running through an open field, authorities said.

 

He refused orders to stop but the officer kept his flashlight on the man to follow his movements as he made his way toward U.S. 421.

 

According to court documents, the warden and officer soon heard a buzzing sound and discovered a drone flying back to where it was launched.

 

Other officers radioed for assistance began setting up at a nearby building to intercept the fleeing suspect, who was captured.

 

Authorities walking toward where the suspect ran from discovered the drone, a remote control for the drone along with other items.

 

According to court documents, over 200 grams of methamphetamine, more than 850 grams of marijuana, slightly more than 14 grams of fentanyl and about five grams of cocaine were also recovered.

 

Patino of Hammond was still being held Monday in the La Porte County Jail on $50,000 bond.