State prison inmates sentenced in contraband cases

Two former inmates of Houtzdale state prison pleaded guilty to contraband charges Tuesday during sentencing court in Clearfield County.

Both Edward Ronald Fletcher, 28, and Anthony Charles Ford, 32, were taken to dry cells after they were suspected of swallowing items while visiting with an outsider.

During the next two days in early March 2016, Fletcher defecated several different times. Corrections officers found a total of 11 different balloons, according to the affidavit. Three contained oxycodone, one had methadone, four had Buprenorphine, and three contained marijuana, according to lab results.

Fletcher was sentenced to two to four years in state prison by President Judge Fredric J. Ammerman. This sentence will run consecutive to the 20-to-40 year-sentence he is now serving for a 2012 murder.

In an unrelated case, Ford swallowed items allegedly placed in a candy bag by Travonna Lynn Irons, 20, of Clairton on March 5, 2016.

Officers watching Ford found six latex fingertips after he defecated. The fingertips contained a substance that tested positive for marijuana, police said.

When Irons was questioned, she admitted she brought 10 small balloons with marijuana into the prison and passed them to inmate, according to the affidavit.

Irons claimed that several days before her visit she received a phone call from an unknown man who allegedly told her that if she didn’t take the drugs to Ford, she would be killed, the report said.

Ammerman also sentenced Ford to two to four years in state prison. This sentence will run concurrent with his current sentence of seven to 14 years from a robbery case in 2014. Prior to sentencing, he told Ammerman that he spent three months in restricted housing because of his actions.

Irons is charged with felony counts of manufacture/delivery/possession with intent to deliver a controlled substance and contraband/controlled substance and misdemeanor counts of intentional possession of a controlled substance and possession of a small amount of marijuana. Her case is still pending.

This story was originally published June 13, 2017 at 10:42 PM with the headline "State prison inmates sentenced in contraband cases."