Laura McKnight
NOLA Media Group, New Orleans
NEW ORLEANS — While loading a transport van for the trip back to the Orleans Parish jail, a deputy spotted something orange in the back of an inmate’s wheelchair.
The orange item was the cap for a syringe, found tucked into the back of the wheelchair with a Kool-Aid packet containing a powdery substance and napkin containing pills, according to arrest documents for the inmate, 28-year-old William Reed, who was rebooked Monday (Jan. 28) on drug charges.
Reed is accused of using his wheelchair in an attempt to smuggle heroin into the Orleans Justice Center jail.
Deputies discovered the syringe and drugs about noon Monday, as they placed Reed and his wheelchair into the van, which was about to head back to the jail from the courthouse. A deputy was placing the wheelchair in the van when he spotted the orange syringe cap, according to an Orleans Parish Sheriff’s Office gist sheet sworn by Deputy Ian Johnson Sr.
In searching the back of the wheelchair, Johnson found the syringe, Kool-Aid packet containing heroin and pills. At the jail, officers searched Reed, finding more pills on his person, the arrest documents allege. It was not immediately clear why Reed used a wheelchair.
Reed was rebooked Monday (Jan. 28) with possession of heroin, possession of drug paraphernalia and introducing contraband into a prison. His bond was set at $16,000 on those charges, Orleans Parish court records show.
Reed was in jail ahead of his rebooking to serve a 120 day sentence in the Orleans Justice Center jail, which Orleans Criminal District Judge Tracey Flemings-Davillier ordered in October, court records show. She ordered the sentence after he violated his probation related to a November 2017 conviction for theft of goods under $1,000. His sentence in November 2017 was initially suspended, and he had received drug treatment at Bridge House, records show. But the judge ordered Reed to serve 120 days after he twice failed to appear in court, in February 2018 and again in October, for probation hearings.
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