Sheriff "Not My Fault" McFadden denies responsibility for jail deaths (09-10-2024--Hour1)

[00:00:04] [SPEAKER_02]: What's going on? Thank you so much for listening to this podcast. It is heard live every day

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[00:00:27] [SPEAKER_02]: for your support. I am at the Woody's Auto Service here on Dobies Bridge Road north, that

[00:00:35] [SPEAKER_02]: is north Dobies Bridge Road, Fort Mill, South Carolina. What are you doing? Okay. And I

[00:00:46] [SPEAKER_02]: was just thinking like 20 years ago I was here. I was doing live remotes from Fort

[00:00:57] [SPEAKER_02]: Mill, working at a tiny little radio station out of Rock Hill. I have come so far. So I

[00:01:04] [SPEAKER_02]: want to start with... Well first actually I need to start with why I'm here which is

[00:01:08] [SPEAKER_02]: the Little Heroes Blood Drive. Thank you, thank you. Little Heroes Blood Drive, it's

[00:01:12] [SPEAKER_02]: in partnership with One Blood and Woody's Auto Service obviously because September is

[00:01:17] [SPEAKER_02]: Pediatric Cancer Awareness Month and for people who don't know donating blood

[00:01:22] [SPEAKER_02]: yet it's not just for people who are going through surgeries and such or people

[00:01:26] [SPEAKER_02]: who get into car accidents or have other kind of mishaps and they lose a lot of

[00:01:30] [SPEAKER_02]: blood. Yes, it helps those people obviously but it also plays a critical role in

[00:01:36] [SPEAKER_02]: treating cancer patients. Hence, Pediatric Cancer Awareness Month and One Blood

[00:01:42] [SPEAKER_02]: Donation can potentially impact four lives. So come on down, the bus is right

[00:01:49] [SPEAKER_02]: here and you just get on the bus and you donate a pint of blood and then

[00:01:54] [SPEAKER_02]: you're done. Every person has the power to save a life and it only takes like... If

[00:01:59] [SPEAKER_02]: you're just donating a pint of blood, it's like 10 minutes. It's super fast and

[00:02:04] [SPEAKER_02]: 62% of the population is eligible to donate blood. So chances are you are one

[00:02:12] [SPEAKER_02]: of the 62%. And maybe you've gone to donate blood before in the past and

[00:02:16] [SPEAKER_02]: you couldn't donate at that time and you're thinking well that means I

[00:02:19] [SPEAKER_02]: can't donate ever again. Not true. It's not true. So come down, make sure, donate,

[00:02:26] [SPEAKER_02]: say hi. Again we're at the Woody's Auto Service, 290 North Dolby's Bridge Road

[00:02:31] [SPEAKER_02]: in Fort Mill. That is South Carolina obviously. Alrighty so I want to start

[00:02:37] [SPEAKER_02]: with a bit of audio here. Well what time is it? Yeah okay, I have time. So

[00:02:43] [SPEAKER_02]: John Moore back in studio. Do me a favor and be ready to fire this bad

[00:02:48] [SPEAKER_02]: boy. This is a report on WBTV by Naomi Cowles or Coles. Maybe it's Coles, K-O-W-L-E-S.

[00:02:58] [SPEAKER_02]: And there is a reason that I call the sheriff of Mecklenburg County, Gary

[00:03:04] [SPEAKER_02]: Not My Fault McFadden. It's because nothing is ever his fault and this was

[00:03:11] [SPEAKER_02]: on display. This dismissiveness, this arrogance, this not my fault, it's somebody

[00:03:19] [SPEAKER_02]: else's fault and oh look over there and I'm going to answer a question you didn't

[00:03:23] [SPEAKER_02]: ask. I'm going to reframe what you did ask as a different question altogether.

[00:03:27] [SPEAKER_02]: This is what he does. It's super annoying. Kudos to the reporter Naomi

[00:03:33] [SPEAKER_02]: Cowles who you'll hear she like drags him back to the question because he

[00:03:39] [SPEAKER_02]: didn't want to answer it. Alright so this is from WBTV, fire away John Moore.

[00:03:43] [SPEAKER_03]: I'm doing more than my two predecessors together did about mental health. Then why

[00:03:49] [SPEAKER_03]: are there more deaths? Well you can say this, why are there more substance

[00:03:55] [SPEAKER_00]: abuse? Mecklenburg County Sheriff Gary McFadden agreed to answer my

[00:03:59] [SPEAKER_00]: questions on camera after months of my reporting on issues at the jail.

[00:04:03] [SPEAKER_00]: I've been investigating why so many people are dying inside his jail in

[00:04:07] [SPEAKER_00]: McFadden's five and a half year tenure. He has overseen more than double the

[00:04:12] [SPEAKER_00]: number of deaths than either of his predecessors. To be clear jail deaths

[00:04:16] [SPEAKER_00]: have also risen across North Carolina during that time, but the

[00:04:20] [SPEAKER_00]: Mecklenburg Count is particularly high. 18 people have died here since the

[00:04:25] [SPEAKER_00]: beginning of 2019 after McFadden took office. Why is that? We are America.

[00:04:31] [SPEAKER_03]: America has changed. My jail detention center is no different from across America.

[00:04:39] [SPEAKER_03]: The real question is what are we doing about the spike of fentanyl? What are

[00:04:43] [SPEAKER_03]: we doing about the real spike of mental health illness? If people are dying

[00:04:46] [SPEAKER_00]: from overdose in the jail, how are drugs getting inside of the jail?

[00:04:50] [SPEAKER_03]: Drugs coming to jail like anybody else through mail. We've tackled that

[00:04:55] [SPEAKER_03]: issue about drugs coming through mail. Did my predecessors did it?

[00:04:58] [SPEAKER_00]: Absolutely not. Sheriff, we're not talking about your predecessors. I'm not

[00:05:02] [SPEAKER_00]: interviewing your predecessors. When an inmate when a resident is inside the

[00:05:06] [SPEAKER_00]: jail, how are they accessing drugs? Are we foolproof? Absolutely not. Are we

[00:05:12] [SPEAKER_03]: doing better? Absolutely. Drugs will come anywhere. How does drug get into the

[00:05:16] [SPEAKER_03]: United States? How did the drug getting to your community for active

[00:05:20] [SPEAKER_00]: lawsuits alleged negligence in deaths under McFadden? The latest says

[00:05:24] [SPEAKER_00]: staff ignored an inmate's obvious overdose symptoms for hours. I will not

[00:05:30] [SPEAKER_03]: let someone say that my staff does not respond to someone in a drug crisis

[00:05:35] [SPEAKER_00]: when we observed him. Do you accept any responsibility when a resident dies of

[00:05:39] [SPEAKER_03]: an overdose in the jail? Do I accept responsibility? That I have something

[00:05:43] [SPEAKER_03]: to do with their responsibilities of their of them dying? That's what you

[00:05:48] [SPEAKER_03]: ask of me. Do I cause their death? No, sir. I ask if you have

[00:05:52] [SPEAKER_00]: responsibility over the policies and the staff members that protect them.

[00:05:57] [SPEAKER_03]: That relies on me. Custody in care relies on me.

[00:06:02] [SPEAKER_00]: So then again, I ask over the last five and a half years, are you aware of

[00:06:06] [SPEAKER_00]: any staff member ever exhibiting a disregard for medical need? We will

[00:06:12] [SPEAKER_00]: answer that in court. I've reported previously on the numerous safety

[00:06:17] [SPEAKER_00]: check violations that the jail has racked up from the state. And I've

[00:06:20] [SPEAKER_00]: also reported on the sheriff's response saying that those violations are

[00:06:23] [SPEAKER_00]: because of a difference in how those checks are calculated. We discussed that

[00:06:27] [SPEAKER_00]: and much more in the full unedited 40 minute interview. All right, there you

[00:06:32] [SPEAKER_02]: go. So that's Naomi Cowles or Coles. Sorry at WBTV. You can watch the whole

[00:06:37] [SPEAKER_02]: interview at WBTV.com. I thought she did a really good job of of pushing

[00:06:44] [SPEAKER_02]: back on him. But you could hear he starts talking about his predecessors

[00:06:50] [SPEAKER_02]: and in the report here at WBTV. In McFadden's five and a half years as

[00:06:56] [SPEAKER_02]: sheriff of Mecklenburg County, there have been 18 deaths at the detention

[00:07:00] [SPEAKER_02]: center. Nobody died from COVID by the way. He was very proud of that. There

[00:07:07] [SPEAKER_02]: were no COVID deaths. But what that works out to be is about three deaths

[00:07:12] [SPEAKER_02]: per year. And so when he starts talking about his predecessors, WBTV

[00:07:17] [SPEAKER_02]: notes that the most recent predecessor was Erwin Carmichael. He was in

[00:07:24] [SPEAKER_02]: charge of the jail as sheriff for four years, and he averaged about two

[00:07:29] [SPEAKER_02]: deaths a year before Carmichael. There was Chip Bailey. There were eight

[00:07:35] [SPEAKER_02]: deaths during his seven years. So that's about one per year. So under

[00:07:41] [SPEAKER_02]: Bailey, you have one per year under Carmichael, you have two per year

[00:07:45] [SPEAKER_02]: under this sheriff, not my fault McFadden. It's three per year. And when she

[00:07:52] [SPEAKER_02]: asks him about the overdose deaths that occur inside the jail and she

[00:08:00] [SPEAKER_02]: asks him where is it coming from? He seems to know. Right? I mean he said

[00:08:06] [SPEAKER_02]: in the mail. It comes through in the mail. Okay. Well if you know

[00:08:12] [SPEAKER_02]: where it's coming from, then how have you not been able to stop it from

[00:08:17] [SPEAKER_02]: coming in? At some point, Sheriff, the responsibility is yours because

[00:08:24] [SPEAKER_02]: you asked for the job twice now and you were elected to the job twice.

[00:08:32] [SPEAKER_02]: You should take responsibility for the duties of the job. And one of

[00:08:39] [SPEAKER_02]: the duties of the job, as you mentioned, was custody and care for the

[00:08:45] [SPEAKER_02]: residents, not the inmates. Don't call them inmates. Heaven for Fendt. We do

[00:08:49] [SPEAKER_02]: not want to call them inmates, the residents. So if you know that it's

[00:08:52] [SPEAKER_02]: coming in through the mail, how has that not been addressed? How has that

[00:08:58] [SPEAKER_02]: not been solved? Is it coming in some other way? All right, real quick

[00:09:02] [SPEAKER_02]: let me introduce you to my friends Gabriel and Michelle, two lifelong

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[00:09:49] [SPEAKER_02]: NC goods.com slash Pete. So Sheriff Gary, not my fault McFadden

[00:09:54] [SPEAKER_02]: finally sits for an interview with WBTV, the reporter Naomi

[00:09:59] [SPEAKER_02]: Coles, who apparently has been doing months worth of reporting on

[00:10:04] [SPEAKER_02]: the jail deaths and the various lawsuits because Oh, yeah, by the

[00:10:07] [SPEAKER_02]: way, he's being sued. Gary McFadden is being sued for all sorts

[00:10:13] [SPEAKER_02]: of cases here. And while according to WBTV, McFadden points to

[00:10:18] [SPEAKER_02]: rises in drug use and mental illness as the reasons for the

[00:10:23] [SPEAKER_02]: deaths inside the Mecklenburg County Jail, particularly the

[00:10:27] [SPEAKER_02]: overdose deaths, several open lawsuits against him allege

[00:10:31] [SPEAKER_02]: something else negligence negligence. I also found it

[00:10:36] [SPEAKER_02]: interesting in that report that he claims that he's doing

[00:10:41] [SPEAKER_02]: better. He's doing better than his predecessors like this guy is

[00:10:46] [SPEAKER_02]: still comparing himself to other people do compare yourself to

[00:10:51] [SPEAKER_02]: yourself. Compare yourself as you are today to who you were

[00:10:57] [SPEAKER_02]: and how you did your job yesterday. Do not keep comparing

[00:11:01] [SPEAKER_02]: yourself to a guy like Chip Bailey, who wasn't sheriff, like

[00:11:08] [SPEAKER_02]: within the last decade, right? Why are you doing that? Why are

[00:11:13] [SPEAKER_02]: you trying to deflect? Oh, there you go. That's okay. That's

[00:11:17] [SPEAKER_02]: probably why he's deflecting attention away from himself to

[00:11:21] [SPEAKER_02]: say he's doing a bang up job. Yeah, we're doing way better

[00:11:26] [SPEAKER_02]: now at the mental health side than they were than any of my

[00:11:29] [SPEAKER_02]: predecessors were. We're awesome yet your your deaths are going up.

[00:11:33] [SPEAKER_02]: Your deaths are three times what Chip Bailey's were in less

[00:11:38] [SPEAKER_02]: amount of time. How does that happen? Right? Why would you

[00:11:42] [SPEAKER_02]: compare yourself to Chip Bailey? Now Erwin Carmichael, he

[00:11:45] [SPEAKER_02]: had two deaths, which was still less two deaths per year

[00:11:48] [SPEAKER_02]: that's still less than McFadden. Why are you comparing

[00:11:53] [SPEAKER_02]: yourselves to yourself to these two guys, these former sheriffs?

[00:11:56] [SPEAKER_02]: You're the sheriff. You've been there five and a half years. And

[00:12:01] [SPEAKER_02]: to her credit, the reporter from BTV Naomi Coles was like, I'm

[00:12:06] [SPEAKER_02]: not talking about them. I'm talking about you. I'm asking

[00:12:08] [SPEAKER_02]: you about your tenure for open lawsuits against McFadden and

[00:12:15] [SPEAKER_02]: the jails former healthcare provider company called Well

[00:12:18] [SPEAKER_02]: Path, alleged negligence in deaths at the jail. And when asked

[00:12:25] [SPEAKER_02]: about this, he says I'm doing more than my two predecessors

[00:12:27] [SPEAKER_02]: together did about mental health. And she then says, then

[00:12:32] [SPEAKER_02]: why are there more deaths? And he says, well, you could say

[00:12:35] [SPEAKER_02]: this, why is there more substance abuse? Note the

[00:12:39] [SPEAKER_02]: deflection also the deflection when he says he has

[00:12:45] [SPEAKER_02]: asked about, you know, the where the drugs coming in dizzy,

[00:12:50] [SPEAKER_02]: does he accept any responsibility? And he then tries to

[00:12:54] [SPEAKER_02]: recast her question as if he's killing people. Do I have

[00:13:00] [SPEAKER_02]: responsibility of them dying? That's what you're asking. Did

[00:13:02] [SPEAKER_02]: I cause their death? Can I prevent their death? Not she's

[00:13:07] [SPEAKER_02]: not asking did you cause the death as the one who

[00:13:11] [SPEAKER_02]: operates the jail and has run on a platform the last time

[00:13:15] [SPEAKER_02]: at least saying you are doing a better job running the jail than

[00:13:18] [SPEAKER_02]: your opponent could do Gina Hicks who actually did run the

[00:13:23] [SPEAKER_02]: jail and had fewer deaths when she was running the jail for

[00:13:27] [SPEAKER_02]: Erwin Carmichael. You beat her in the primary and you assured

[00:13:33] [SPEAKER_02]: us that you had this under control. So he doesn't want

[00:13:36] [SPEAKER_02]: any of the responsibility for managing the jail on the

[00:13:40] [SPEAKER_02]: negative side, but he wants all the flowers. He wants all

[00:13:43] [SPEAKER_02]: the awards. He wants all the credit in the world and the

[00:13:46] [SPEAKER_02]: praise from the local community about when he gets

[00:13:48] [SPEAKER_02]: recognized by, you know, various organizations across the

[00:13:52] [SPEAKER_02]: country or the state. Then oh yes, then he wants everybody to

[00:13:56] [SPEAKER_02]: notice that he's in charge. But when people are dying and

[00:14:00] [SPEAKER_02]: he's asked about it new. No, I'm not responsible. That's why

[00:14:04] [SPEAKER_02]: I call him not my fault. McFadden. So when I was a kid,

[00:14:08] [SPEAKER_02]: my grandpa died with Alzheimer's and before he died,

[00:14:10] [SPEAKER_02]: my mom and my dad and all of us really helped take care of

[00:14:13] [SPEAKER_02]: them as he got progressively worse. 40 years ago, there were no

[00:14:17] [SPEAKER_02]: treatments and not much support for caregivers and family.

[00:14:20] [SPEAKER_02]: Things are different today because of the work of so many

[00:14:23] [SPEAKER_02]: people including the Alzheimer's Association of Western

[00:14:25] [SPEAKER_02]: North Carolina. It's a great organization with awesome

[00:14:29] [SPEAKER_02]: people. They've got huge hearts. I've been a

[00:14:31] [SPEAKER_02]: supporter for like 25 years. This cause means a lot to

[00:14:34] [SPEAKER_02]: me. I participate in the annual walk to end Alzheimer's

[00:14:38] [SPEAKER_02]: and I am leading a Charlotte team this year. It's called

[00:14:41] [SPEAKER_02]: Pete's Pack. You can sign up and join the team and walk with

[00:14:44] [SPEAKER_02]: me. It's on October 19th at Truist Field in Uptown. Sign

[00:14:49] [SPEAKER_02]: up at ALZ.org slash walk and then just look for my team

[00:14:52] [SPEAKER_02]: Pete's Pack. And there's also a link in the podcast

[00:14:55] [SPEAKER_02]: description here. Also, I'm going to be emceeing the

[00:14:57] [SPEAKER_02]: Gastonia Walk on October 5th. So make a team and

[00:15:00] [SPEAKER_02]: join us or make a donation to help me hit my goal. I

[00:15:03] [SPEAKER_02]: would really appreciate it. There are a bunch of other

[00:15:06] [SPEAKER_02]: walks around the Carolinas and you can go to ALZ.org for all

[00:15:10] [SPEAKER_02]: of the dates and locations. We are closer than ever to

[00:15:14] [SPEAKER_02]: stopping Alzheimer's. And if you can help us get there, we

[00:15:18] [SPEAKER_02]: would really appreciate it. Will you come walk with me for a

[00:15:20] [SPEAKER_02]: different future? For families? For more time? For

[00:15:23] [SPEAKER_02]: treatments? This is why I walk. I got a message from

[00:15:27] [SPEAKER_02]: app patriot girl. It's a Pete tweet. She says Gary

[00:15:32] [SPEAKER_02]: McFadden is a classic narcissist and a psychopath.

[00:15:36] [SPEAKER_02]: Okay, I'm not sure about psychopath but narcissism

[00:15:41] [SPEAKER_02]: seems true. Seems true because narcissists employ a

[00:15:46] [SPEAKER_02]: thing called Darvo. Have you ever heard of Darvo? I've

[00:15:50] [SPEAKER_02]: mentioned this before on the program, but if you haven't

[00:15:52] [SPEAKER_02]: heard it, it's new to you. D-A-R-V-O. And it's an

[00:15:56] [SPEAKER_02]: acronym. D stands for deny. So when when confronted

[00:16:04] [SPEAKER_02]: with their abusive or negligent behavior, they deny. Deny,

[00:16:10] [SPEAKER_02]: deny, deny. Not me, I didn't do it. Deny. Next is attack. Not

[00:16:16] [SPEAKER_02]: in like a Republican CZ or Pouncy sort of a way. But

[00:16:20] [SPEAKER_02]: they'll attack you for something you did or perceived

[00:16:25] [SPEAKER_02]: slight or something in order to deflect attention. Right?

[00:16:29] [SPEAKER_02]: Again, you've confronted them about something. So first

[00:16:32] [SPEAKER_02]: they deny, then they will attack you. And then the R-V-O is

[00:16:39] [SPEAKER_02]: all part of one grouping which is reverse victim and

[00:16:44] [SPEAKER_02]: offender. Reverse the victim and the offender. Swap them.

[00:16:49] [SPEAKER_02]: Right? And McFadden does this. And so he seems to check

[00:16:55] [SPEAKER_02]: the Darvo boxes. In this interview with WBTV, he

[00:17:01] [SPEAKER_02]: constantly reframes questions that are challenging to him and

[00:17:09] [SPEAKER_02]: his actions or inactions when it comes to jail deaths, or also

[00:17:14] [SPEAKER_02]: when it comes to immigration and customs enforcement lack of

[00:17:19] [SPEAKER_02]: cooperation that he has instructed his office, his

[00:17:23] [SPEAKER_02]: department not to do. It's actually not a department. It's

[00:17:25] [SPEAKER_02]: an office, the Sheriff's Office. It's an agency. And when

[00:17:29] [SPEAKER_02]: he was running for election five and a half years ago, he

[00:17:32] [SPEAKER_02]: promised that he would not help ICE. He would not help identify

[00:17:37] [SPEAKER_02]: people, hold people and get them out of the country unless

[00:17:41] [SPEAKER_02]: ICE did something that it is not empowered to do legally. And

[00:17:47] [SPEAKER_02]: he knew that. But what did he do? Reverse victim and

[00:17:51] [SPEAKER_02]: offender there. Right? He denies that I'm the reason why

[00:17:57] [SPEAKER_02]: this is happening. It's not me. He then attacks you or he'll

[00:18:00] [SPEAKER_02]: attack Republicans. He said this, you know, this is about

[00:18:03] [SPEAKER_02]: partisan politics, right? So he attacks the people who are

[00:18:06] [SPEAKER_02]: saying you should hold these violent criminal offenders for

[00:18:10] [SPEAKER_02]: 48 hours so ICE can come get them. And then he does the

[00:18:14] [SPEAKER_02]: reversal of the victim and the offender. The offender is

[00:18:19] [SPEAKER_02]: sitting in jail. And now he turns them into the victim.

[00:18:23] [SPEAKER_02]: He reframes the questions in order to make himself either

[00:18:27] [SPEAKER_02]: look like the victim or the hero, never the villain. And you

[00:18:31] [SPEAKER_02]: know, make him look better. Did I cause their death? He asks

[00:18:34] [SPEAKER_02]: WBTV when she asked, does he take any responsibility for the

[00:18:39] [SPEAKER_02]: deaths that have occurred on his watch in his jail? And he

[00:18:45] [SPEAKER_02]: refuses to say so. He then turns it into some other

[00:18:49] [SPEAKER_02]: cockamamie question that she did not ask, which is did he

[00:18:53] [SPEAKER_02]: cause their deaths? No, no one is saying you caused their death.

[00:18:58] [SPEAKER_02]: See, because then he gets to play the victim. You're attacking

[00:19:02] [SPEAKER_02]: me. You're saying I caused their deaths. I'm the victim here of

[00:19:06] [SPEAKER_02]: a scurrilous attack. And this is what he has done when he goes

[00:19:11] [SPEAKER_02]: in front of the county commissioners. And he, you

[00:19:13] [SPEAKER_02]: know, woe is me, woe is me, I need your help defending

[00:19:17] [SPEAKER_02]: myself. Meanwhile, he then goes out, sets up, you know,

[00:19:20] [SPEAKER_02]: traffic stops on Jaton Road, because that's where the rich

[00:19:25] [SPEAKER_02]: white people live. That's what he said. And then when people

[00:19:28] [SPEAKER_02]: challenge him on that, like, whoa, whoa, whoa, that sounds

[00:19:30] [SPEAKER_02]: like you're targeting people based on on immutable

[00:19:36] [SPEAKER_02]: characteristics like race. And then oh, you know, they're

[00:19:40] [SPEAKER_02]: attacking me because I'm a black sheriff. Like this is what he

[00:19:43] [SPEAKER_02]: does all the time. This is so yes, he checks the Darvo

[00:19:46] [SPEAKER_02]: boxes, it seems to me again, I'm no psychiatrist. It

[00:19:49] [SPEAKER_02]: just seems like it's pretty clear to me. He said, I'm doing

[00:19:56] [SPEAKER_02]: more than my two predecessors together did about mental

[00:19:59] [SPEAKER_02]: health. And the reporter then asked Naomi Cole says, well,

[00:20:03] [SPEAKER_02]: then why are there more deaths? And he says, well, you

[00:20:05] [SPEAKER_02]: could say this, why is there more substance abuse? That's

[00:20:09] [SPEAKER_02]: a deflection. Why are there more deaths in the jail,

[00:20:13] [SPEAKER_02]: rather than say, Well, because we have greater rates of drug

[00:20:18] [SPEAKER_02]: use in the jail. But then that goes to the question of how are

[00:20:22] [SPEAKER_02]: the drugs getting into the jail? And look, I'm not naive. I know.

[00:20:27] [SPEAKER_02]: I mean, I understand that people smuggle stuff in. What kind

[00:20:32] [SPEAKER_02]: of people? Yeah, visitors, visitors to the jail, sure,

[00:20:36] [SPEAKER_02]: but they kind of they go through a lot of searching and

[00:20:38] [SPEAKER_02]: stuff like that. So who else? Who else may be smuggling

[00:20:42] [SPEAKER_02]: stuff into jails? Oh, now this gets a little

[00:20:45] [SPEAKER_02]: uncomfortable for Sheriff, not my fault. Right? This might get

[00:20:49] [SPEAKER_02]: a little uncomfortable. That means some of your people might be

[00:20:52] [SPEAKER_02]: doing it, right? I don't know who is but if the drug if the

[00:20:56] [SPEAKER_02]: drugs are in the jail, they got in there somehow and you claim

[00:20:59] [SPEAKER_02]: they're coming in through the mail. Well, that seems like if

[00:21:02] [SPEAKER_02]: you know where they're coming in from, then you should be

[00:21:04] [SPEAKER_02]: able to crack down on that pretty easily get a dog in

[00:21:07] [SPEAKER_02]: there to sniff out the fentanyl or something, right? Or

[00:21:11] [SPEAKER_02]: maybe there's some other method. I will tell you that

[00:21:14] [SPEAKER_02]: when I went into the lockup long, long time ago for underage

[00:21:19] [SPEAKER_02]: possession of alcohol, I was able to purchase cigarettes and

[00:21:23] [SPEAKER_02]: they were pushed through a door by a staffer. It was like

[00:21:27] [SPEAKER_02]: 20 bucks for a pack of cigarettes or 10 bucks for a pack

[00:21:30] [SPEAKER_02]: of cigarettes. And they put them in an envelope and they

[00:21:34] [SPEAKER_02]: pushed them through the door. You would lean on the door

[00:21:37] [SPEAKER_02]: and the door would get a gap and they would feed it

[00:21:39] [SPEAKER_02]: through. You're going to tell me that's not happening in

[00:21:41] [SPEAKER_02]: the Mechlerburg jail. You're going to tell me that nobody is

[00:21:43] [SPEAKER_02]: taking advantage of a captured customer base. Please, please.

[00:21:50] [SPEAKER_02]: Pediatric Cancer Awareness Month that is September all month

[00:21:53] [SPEAKER_02]: long and the donations of blood are huge in fighting cancer.

[00:21:59] [SPEAKER_02]: So for pediatric cancer awareness month, make a blood

[00:22:02] [SPEAKER_02]: donation. Come on down. Come see me. Say hi. But don't take

[00:22:06] [SPEAKER_02]: up too much of my time. I got a live show going on here.

[00:22:09] [SPEAKER_02]: No, I kid. But you can come on down say hi and get

[00:22:12] [SPEAKER_02]: yourself into the bus. It'll take you just a couple minutes

[00:22:15] [SPEAKER_02]: like literally like 10, 15, 20 minutes tops and then

[00:22:18] [SPEAKER_02]: you're done. And you've helped save a life. Like it's not

[00:22:23] [SPEAKER_02]: often I get to offer you the opportunity to save a life,

[00:22:26] [SPEAKER_02]: you know, but you can do it. Come on down in Fort Mill.

[00:22:33] [SPEAKER_02]: 7045701110 and the email is pete at thepeakcannonershow.com

[00:22:36] [SPEAKER_02]: Let's go to the phones and talk with Eric. Hello, Eric.

[00:22:39] [SPEAKER_01]: Welcome to the show. Hey, how are you doing today? Hey, I'm

[00:22:42] [SPEAKER_01]: good. What's up? Good. So I have a funny little story but also

[00:22:47] [SPEAKER_01]: have an idea how the drugs may have been getting into jail.

[00:22:50] [SPEAKER_01]: All right. Back in the late 80s, I, you know, I was a little

[00:22:53] [SPEAKER_01]: bit of a criminal. I ended up doing a couple of months in

[00:22:57] [SPEAKER_01]: Mecklenburg County Jail and once a week I got popped and

[00:22:59] [SPEAKER_01]: delivered to me in jail, which made me very popular.

[00:23:03] [SPEAKER_02]: Was that like a service that the that the jail provided

[00:23:06] [SPEAKER_02]: like a delivery service? It was like a like a door dash.

[00:23:11] [SPEAKER_01]: It was actually a 15 year old girl who was a friend of mine.

[00:23:15] [SPEAKER_01]: Everybody, everybody who has this it's different now because

[00:23:19] [SPEAKER_01]: everybody has their own cell now. But back in the day,

[00:23:22] [SPEAKER_01]: everybody who had a job was in the same cell. And there's

[00:23:26] [SPEAKER_01]: one guy whose job is to empty trash. The only trash can

[00:23:30] [SPEAKER_01]: is accessible to the public is located in the room where you

[00:23:34] [SPEAKER_01]: go to bail people out of jail. So my friend would take a bag of

[00:23:37] [SPEAKER_01]: pot, drop it in the trash can and then the inmate has a guard

[00:23:42] [SPEAKER_01]: with him. But so all he does is he picks the trash up puts it

[00:23:46] [SPEAKER_01]: in the big cart. But then when he goes to roll it out on the

[00:23:50] [SPEAKER_01]: loading dock to put it in the dumpster, all the deputies

[00:23:52] [SPEAKER_01]: go and smoke and talk like somewhere else. He would just

[00:23:55] [SPEAKER_01]: dig the bag of pot out. And all I have to do was split it

[00:23:59] [SPEAKER_01]: with them. Now even though the jail was different now, this

[00:24:03] [SPEAKER_01]: was the old jail. The setup is still the same. There's still

[00:24:06] [SPEAKER_01]: that still that same little room right there on 4th Street. And

[00:24:10] [SPEAKER_01]: you go to bail people out of jail, you put something in the

[00:24:12] [SPEAKER_01]: trash. There's an inmate who empties that trash.

[00:24:16] [SPEAKER_02]: So how did you come? Was this a plan that you came up with?

[00:24:19] [SPEAKER_02]: Or was this some sort of operation that was passed down

[00:24:23] [SPEAKER_02]: to you from inmates of your

[00:24:26] [SPEAKER_01]: That was the yeah, it was taught to me by people who

[00:24:29] [SPEAKER_01]: had a lot more experience being inmates.

[00:24:31] [SPEAKER_02]: Right. So right, because I recall like

[00:24:36] [SPEAKER_01]: Well, no back then you could smoke cigarettes in jail. So you

[00:24:41] [SPEAKER_01]: can ask the smell of marijuana.

[00:24:44] [SPEAKER_02]: Oh, that's very handy to and it wasn't as potent as it is now

[00:24:48] [SPEAKER_02]: too. So I'm sure it didn't smell as bad.

[00:24:50] [SPEAKER_01]: Jail is newer. Like if you have to stay overnight, you get

[00:24:54] [SPEAKER_01]: your own cell now. But back in the day there were 40 men to

[00:24:57] [SPEAKER_01]: a cell. And everybody who had a job like my job was in the

[00:25:00] [SPEAKER_01]: kitchen. Oh, and by the way, if you work in the kitchen, you

[00:25:02] [SPEAKER_01]: get to eat with the guards eat and the guards eat very well.

[00:25:06] [SPEAKER_01]: That's Mechelmore County Sheriff's Department.

[00:25:08] [SPEAKER_02]: Interesting.

[00:25:09] [SPEAKER_01]: But yeah, no, once a week, a 15 year old girl dropped a bag of

[00:25:13] [SPEAKER_01]: pop in there. And like I said, the guy would just fish it

[00:25:16] [SPEAKER_01]: out on the loading dock. And I just had to split it with

[00:25:20] [SPEAKER_02]: So when they did lights out in in your gen pop cell, did

[00:25:25] [SPEAKER_02]: the guys have a way to the sorry, the residents have a

[00:25:29] [SPEAKER_02]: way of turning the lights back on in there?

[00:25:33] [SPEAKER_01]: You know, that part I don't remember. I know that the guys

[00:25:37] [SPEAKER_01]: who had like the inmates who had jobs, you know, trustees, we

[00:25:40] [SPEAKER_01]: got to stay up later than the rest of the people. And like

[00:25:44] [SPEAKER_01]: said, you could smoke cigarettes back then so you could

[00:25:46] [SPEAKER_01]: mask the smell of the pot. But like I said, even though the

[00:25:50] [SPEAKER_01]: jails knew and different, the setup for the room where you

[00:25:54] [SPEAKER_01]: go bail people out of, you know, bail people out of jail,

[00:25:57] [SPEAKER_01]: that's still the same little room.

[00:26:01] [SPEAKER_02]: So you think that's probably how the fentanyl is getting in now?

[00:26:05] [SPEAKER_01]: I mean, if I was going to do it, that's the way I do it.

[00:26:09] [SPEAKER_02]: Yeah, I mean, you might as well give it a shot. I mean, if

[00:26:11] [SPEAKER_02]: you ended up back in in in jail, you might yeah, I mean, you

[00:26:15] [SPEAKER_02]: may try to adopt although somebody's probably already

[00:26:17] [SPEAKER_02]: running that that service. So you might have to you

[00:26:21] [SPEAKER_02]: might have to fight him for the service or something

[00:26:24] [SPEAKER_01]: possible. And also, I mean, I wouldn't send it in the

[00:26:25] [SPEAKER_01]: mail because that makes it a federal offense.

[00:26:28] [SPEAKER_02]: Oh, that's smart to yeah.

[00:26:30] [SPEAKER_01]: If you just drop it, if you just drop it in the trash can, I

[00:26:33] [SPEAKER_01]: mean, you know, I mean, back then they didn't have

[00:26:35] [SPEAKER_01]: cameras everywhere. But if you dropped in the trash can, I

[00:26:38] [SPEAKER_01]: mean, who's to say who put it in there? I mean, it'd be

[00:26:41] [SPEAKER_01]: hard to tell. I mean, if I was going to do it, that'd

[00:26:43] [SPEAKER_01]: be the way I'd do it.

[00:26:45] [SPEAKER_02]: Eric, I appreciate the call, although I kind of feel like

[00:26:48] [SPEAKER_02]: I may be encouraging or instructing people on how

[00:26:51] [SPEAKER_02]: to how to skirt the law. But I don't know, we have a

[00:26:54] [SPEAKER_02]: lot of listeners in County Lockup. I don't think so.

[00:26:57] [SPEAKER_02]: But no, I mean, look, this is the thing. If you've got

[00:27:00] [SPEAKER_02]: drugs getting into the jail, and people are overdosing in

[00:27:04] [SPEAKER_02]: record numbers, then yeah, I think you should be trying to

[00:27:09] [SPEAKER_02]: identify where it's coming in from and trying to lock that

[00:27:11] [SPEAKER_02]: stuff down. But you know, I mean, that's just me, you

[00:27:15] [SPEAKER_02]: know, I'm no jail administrator. I'm just a

[00:27:17] [SPEAKER_02]: little old radio host here. So now I'm no sheriff.

[00:27:22] [SPEAKER_02]: If I was, I would probably take responsibility for the

[00:27:25] [SPEAKER_02]: things that you know, are within my job description.

[00:27:28] [SPEAKER_02]: All right, that'll do it for this episode. Thank you so much

[00:27:31] [SPEAKER_02]: for listening. I could not do the show without your

[00:27:33] [SPEAKER_02]: support and the support of the businesses that advertise on

[00:27:36] [SPEAKER_02]: the podcast. So if you'd like, please support them too and

[00:27:39] [SPEAKER_02]: tell them you heard it here. You can also become a

[00:27:41] [SPEAKER_02]: patron at my Patreon page or go to thepcalinarshow.com.

[00:27:45] [SPEAKER_02]: Again, thank you so much for listening. And don't

[00:27:47] [SPEAKER_02]: break anything while I'm gone.