Nashville, TN – Metro Police report that the continuing investigation begun one year ago into the introduction of drugs into Nashville’s jail system has led to a new indictment of five individuals, three inmates, a former Davidson County Sheriff’s Office employee, a Rutherford County correctional officer, and a civilian woman, on multiple criminal counts, including conspiracy to commit second-degree murder.
The Rutherford County Sheriffs Office says that one suspect, Charles Kelley, was charged this week while he was still employed at the local jail. Kelley is facing charges of conspiracy to commit second-degree murder, engaging in a fentanyl delivery conspiracy, fentanyl delivery, conspiracy to deliver contraband into a penal facility, and delivering contraband. He was employed as a correctional officer since February at the Rutherford County Sheriff’s Office, but was terminated immediately on Thursday night (9/5/2024).
Detectives from the Specialized Investigations Division’s Neighborhood Safety Overdose Unit, with assistance from the Davidson County Sheriff’s Office Investigative Services Unit, began looking closely at the jail system after an autopsy revealed that inmate Daniel Prisco, 18, who was found unresponsive in his cell at the Harding Place facility on September 19, 2023, died of acute fentanyl toxicity. Prisco was under indictment and awaiting court proceedings on two counts of felony aggravated assault and two counts of felony reckless endangerment at the time of his death.
Over the past several months, the investigation revealed a network of inmates and two others who conspired to introduce drugs into the jail system and distribute them. One of the inmates, Emmanual Webb, 30, who is awaiting trial on a 2023 first-degree murder indictment, is alleged to have worked with his female associate on the outside, Devin Popejoy, 28, to get drugs into jail facilities. Among other things, Popejoy is alleged to have set up drug-related telephone conference calls between Webb and third parties during his jailhouse calls to her. Webb is charged in the new indictment with conspiracy to commit second-degree murder, engaging in a fentanyl delivery conspiracy, two counts of conspiracy to distribute contraband in a penal institution, and two counts of fentanyl delivery. Popejoy is charged with conspiracy to commit second-degree murder, engaging in a fentanyl delivery conspiracy, and conspiracy to distribute contraband in a penal institution.
Webb and Popejoy were indicted in July on felony meth and fentanyl charges. Popejoy was free on bond in that case prior to her surrendering on the new indictment Thursday (9/5/2024).
Other current inmates named in the new indictment are William Sigsby, 28, and Joshua Young, 38, who are both charged with conspiracy to commit second-degree murder, engaging in a fentanyl conspiracy, fentanyl delivery, delivering contraband, and conspiracy to introduce contraband into a penal facility. Matthew Calhoun, 27, a former Davidson County inmate who is now being housed at the state’s Bledsoe County Correctional Facility, is charged in the new indictment with conspiracy to commit second-degree murder, engaging in a fentanyl conspiracy, and conspiracy to distribute contraband in a penal institution.
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