ALLEN COUNTY, Ind. (WANE) – They tried to bury the drugs in a suit delivered for a man awaiting trial.
They spoke in code, knowing the phone lines recorded conversations to be reviewed by investigators later.
None of it worked.
Now, an inmate at the Allen County Jail is accused of trying to smuggle drugs for his cellmate this past March using his girlfriend and his cellmate’s mother in a convoluted scheme foiled by officers, according to newly released Allen Superior Court documents.
Jail staff and the Allen County Sheriff’s vice and narcotic units discovered the drugs hidden in clothing delivered at the behest of 35-year-old Terry Lynn Hargis Jr., who had been locked up on felony charges of neglecting and injuring a child and is now facing an additional trafficking charge.
The drugs – identified as strips of suboxone which is used to treat opioid addiction but is considered a controlled substance – were found March 13 by a bailiff in the sole of a shoe that had been brought along with an outfit for Hargis’ cellmate, Burke Wayne Baughman Jr.
Baughman, referred to by Hargis as his “bunkie” in court documents, at the time was facing a March 14 trial on drug dealing charges.
Hargis is now facing a preliminary charge of trafficking with an inmate after phone records revealed he asked a woman referred to as his girlfriend to conceal the suboxone inside clothing she brought for Baughman.
The plan to get the drugs into the jail included coordinating between Hargis’ girlfriend and Baughman’s mother, court documents said.
On March 8, Hargis called his girlfriend from jail and asked about getting a box of suboxone strips.
“Oh babe,” Hargis said. “So, I might need you to do me a favor.”
Okay,” Hargis’ girlfriend said.
“Which is just, umm, just dropping off some clothes for my friend’s trial,” Hargis said.
Hargis’ girlfriend agreed to do so. The following day, Hargis asked his girlfriend over the phone to “check the mailbox,” according to those court documents.
“Remember what I told you about it,” he said in court documents. “So, keep it to yourself but I need to know if it looks like it’s been messed with.”
According to court documents, Baughman messaged his mother the following day, March 10, saying:
“I’ll know within the next 30 days if I have to prepare for finding me a punk when I get to prison and figuring out a way to get a mule as well.”
Hargis’ girlfriend, whose number was saved in Baughman’s mother’s phone as “Burkeys Suit,” picked up the clothes to take to Baughman on March 13.
She told Hargis after taking the clothing to the jail the following:
“Anyway, I dropped off those clothes and a pair of shoes. It’s both left and right. Size 10 and 10, anyway I have my appointment on Thursday this week and have to take the 10 kids with me.”
Police determined the repeated reference to “10” was Hargis’ girlfriend’s way of speaking in code to let him know he was getting fewer strips than the 30 that were originally promised, according to court documents.
The drugs were found the following day, and Baughman’s mother was brought in for questioning on the smuggling attempt.
“Yes,” she answered in court documents when asked if she knew who tried to conceal the drugs in the shoe. “I didn’t know she did it though, but clearly.”
Baughman’s mother went on to explain to officers in court documents she was confused why the girlfriend of her son’s cellmate was chosen to bring the clothes to Baughman, asking him in one conversation:
“Why wouldn’t you just let me take the suit?”
Police found Hargis’s girlfriend and took her into custody more than a month later on April 20 as she was driving an SUV with a fake license plate.
Neither Baughman, his mother nor Hargis’ girlfriend have been charged in connection with the scheme.
Baughman was recently sentenced to more than 20 years in prison after being found guilty of dealing methamphetamine.
Hargis is accused of somehow causing a child to suffer broken bones in his legs and broken ribs and not getting the child medical care.
He faces an October trial on three counts of neglect of a dependent.
