Avoca VFW Ladies Auxiliary meeting April 6

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Superior Court strikes down Glodzik’s sentencing appeal

WILKES-BARRE &#8212; A case involving alleged smuggling of contraband into the Luzerne County Correctional Facility has expanded to include charges against two more people.Rochelle Fedkenheuer, 33, of Wilkes-Barre, faces two contraband charges and one charge each of drug manufacturing or delivery of a controlled substance and drug possession after police say she helped an inmate smuggle Suboxone into the prison.Inmate Wallace Thomas, 33, is also charged with possession a controlled substance, manufacture or delivery of a controlled substance and drug possession. Police say that Thomas, who was incorrectly identified in court papers as Thomas Wallace, dropped a package containing almost 80 strips of Suboxone.Court records indicate that both Fedkenheuer and Thomas are free on $10,000 unsecured bail.Previous arrestThursday&#8217;s arraignments of Fedkenheuer and Thomas came one day after news broke that Steven Potter, 27, had been charged with a single felony contraband charge after prison officials determined that he was coordinating with Fedkenheuer to deliver the drugs.Potter is serving prison time after repeatedly violating his parole related to fleeing and eluding and reckless endangerment charges.Potter was arraigned on the contraband charge on Wednesday, and is set to appear before District Judge Rick Cronauer for a preliminary hearing at 10 a.m. on April 9. Fedkenheuer and Potter were each arraigned on their charges before District Judge Martin Kane on Thursday, and face preliminary hearings before Kane at 9 a.m. on April 23.The allegationsAccording to an affidavit of probable cause:The Wilkes-Barre Anti-Crime Unit was contacted by county jail deputy warden James Larson on March 1 regarding inmates with contraband in the prison. Larson produced incident reports, &#8220;a bag of evidence&#8221; and audio and video recordings, which tipped investigators off to the drugs being smuggled into the prison.It was not immediately clear what the evidence entailed.On March 8, prison officials found inmate Corney McLaurin in possession of tobacco inside his cell. Officials noticed that he was given two egg, ham and cheese bagel sandwiches, which is a food not typically served to inmates, according to the affidavit.Prison officials later observed Potter walking down the hallway and carrying two breakfast trays with more food not usually served to inmates. Potter was subsequently given a misconduct report for the food.At the same time, prison officials were escorting McLaurin&#8217;s cellmate, Wallace Thomas, to the showers to be strip searched. As they were walking, a prison official saw Thomas drop a package containing 76 and a half strips of Suboxone pills near the block door. Prison officials then turned the package over to the police.Suboxone is a prescription medication that contains an opioid as well as a drug that reverses the effects of other narcotics. It is prescribed to treat narcotic addiction, according to the manufacturer&#8217;s website, but it can be misused to get high.Larson learned about the incident, started to listen to Potter&#8217;s recorded telephone calls and visits and then provided them to police. Police learned from the recordings that Potter was calling Rochelle Fedkenheuer, a woman living on the outside of the prison.In one conversation, police say Potter was &#8220;begging Fedkenheuer to place &#8216;Subs&#8217; in the prison delivery entrance.&#8221;According to police, Potter told Fedkenheuer when the guards changed shifts and when the best time to make the drop was. Police say that Potter was angry with Fedkenheuer in a few conversations &#8220;because she didn&#8217;t hide the package and he had an unknown inmate look for it.&#8221;Officers interviewed Fedkenheuer at police headquarters on March 11, when police say she admitted to placing tobacco and Suboxone in the prison&#8217;s delivery entrance. She also allegedly told police that she did not want to make the deliveries, &#8220;but Potter kept begging her.&#8221;

Luzerne County Correctional Facility contraband case snares two more suspects