Sheriff’s Office may need to divert appropriated funds to complete purchase
By Randy Arrington
LURAY, Dec. 16 — After numerous requests for funding to support the purchase of a body scanner at the Page County Jail, Sheriff Chad Cubbage finally received an allocation of $56,951 from the Page County Board of Supervisors during Monday night’s meeting. However, supervisors stipulated that the sheriff would need to find the remaining funds within his own budget to complete the $171,000 purchase.
The quote Sheriff Cubbage presented to the board last month from Tek84 showed a base cost of $139,000 for an Intercept Whole Body Security Scanning System, with an optional FDA-approved integrated Temperature Scanner for an additional $20,000. Shipping, installation and calibration total $3,000. An eight-year warranty tacks on another $8,900. The quote, with mark downs on the unit itself and the optional temperature scanner, expires at the end of the month. List prices total $268,000.
While discussing the potential allocation of local monies from the general fund, supervisors and staff broke down what they saw as “available funds” that could be put toward the body scanner from within the sheriff’s current budget, including:
- $54,630 — CIP funds allocated to the Sheriff’s Office remain to be spent.
- $35,000 — Bonus to PCSO from Pay Tel.
- $20,00 — State forfeiture funds.
- $4,000 — Remaining federal forfeiture funds.
The sheriff’s initial request to the county was for $135,900, with only the $35,000 from Pay Tel being earmarked for the body scanner. With staff’s recommendation to use all available CIP funds in the sheriff’s budget along with the Pay Tel bonus, the county request was lowered to $81,270. However, supervisors then pointed to available forfeiture funds that they felt could also be contributed to the purchase of the body scanner.
Sheriff Cubbage stated a different viewpoint in a letter to the board.
“At present, the current asset forfeiture balance has been appropriated for essential resources that otherwise would need to be covered by the county budget. Some of these allocations are critical to ensure that personnel have the necessary safety equipment to do their jobs effectively,” the letter states. Sheriff Cubbage also clearly states in the letter that “asset forfeiture funds are unavailable for the purchase of the body scanner.”
Although it has been mentioned for many years, the drive to purchase a body scanner at the jail was heightened following the May 27, 2021 death of 26-year-old Cody Shotwell Brown of Stanley, who was in custody at the Page County Jail.
“This claim arises from the …failure of Page County Jail and its affiliates to find, prevent and/or remove fentanyl, and other controlled substances from the jail,” a June 15,2021 notice reads announcing an intent to file. Brown’s mother filed a civil lawsuit in the Page County Circuit Court on Jan. 14, 2022 naming six defendants and seeking $1.85 million in damages for the “wrongful death” of her son while incarcerated in the Page County Jail.
“Brown ingested, inhaled or consumed fentanyl while in the custody of Page County Jail,” the lawsuit claims, on the day before his death. The civil suit states that not only did Page County officials fail to prevent illegal drugs from coming into the jail, but they also failed to “ensure the availability of emergency medical equipment and/or treatments, to include naloxone” as well as “failing to respond to medical emergencies in a timely fashion.”
The smuggling of drugs into the local jail by both inmates (work release) and visitors through a body cavity has been an issue for some time at the jail, and it is believed to have potentially played a role in the drugs that killed Brown.
For more information on the Page County Sheriff’s Office,
visit https://pagesheriff.com/
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