(Westville, IN) - A second person has been arrested for allegedly using a drone to try and smuggle drugs and other contraband like tobacco into Westville Correctional Facility.

 

Authorities also suspect Zamale Davis succeeded on at least one previous attempt at the prison.

 

Davis, 30, of South Bend is charged in La Porte Superior Court 2 with two counts of Level 5 felony trafficking with an inmate.

 

According to court documents, an official with the Indiana Department of Correction and multiple police agencies on the night of April 3 responded to the prison’s drone detective system.  The system alerted to the presence of a drone in the air space around the prison.

 

Authorities soon went inside a nearby building along U.S. 421 with a tracking dog and a man later identified as Davis was spotted running along the edge of the property, according to court documents.

 

Despite commands to stop, Davis kept running even after warned about the dog and his potential to bite. He stopped, though, when informed the dog had been released to chase him down, authorities said. 

 

A duffle bag containing the drone, remote control along with multiple bags of contraband were among the items found during a search of the building, according to court documents.

 

Authorities said the contraband included nearly two pounds of marijuana, about one pound of tobacco and over 1,300 rolling papers. Also allegedly seized were seven cell phones, four chargers, five vape pens and 11 lighters, which are also prohibited from being in the prison.

 

According to court documents, Davis is suspected in a drone drug trafficking incident at the prison on March 2.

 

That’s because Davis while arrested was recognized by Warden Jason Smiley from the previous drone related response and the drugs seized were in the same type bags that somehow found their way into the prison last month.

 

Davis was being held in the LaPorte County Jail on $15,000 bond.

 

On March 21, Eric Patino was allegedly caught in a failed attempt to get methamphetamine and other drugs inside the prison through the use of a drone.

 

A drone detected in the prison’s airspace was soon witnessed hovering above the responding authorities and flying toward where it was launched.

 

The 29 year old Hammond man quickly emerged from some nearby brush and was chased on foot until he was soon captured, police said.

 

Authorities walking toward where Patino was first spotted discovered the drone along with large quantities of methamphetamine, fentanyl, cocaine, marijuana, tobacco and suboxone, according to court documents.

 

LaPorte County Prosecutor Sean Fagan said the use of drones to get contraband into the hands of offenders appears to be a “disturbing trend” and one he believes will continue.

 

“You never underestimate people and what they can think of and how to use things.  It’s a game of cat and mouse,” he said.