Drugs found on inmate checking into jail

Methadone pills and marijuana were brought into the Suffolk County jail on Friday by a man already under arrest on drug charges who was checking into the facility, officials said.

Vincent Pucci, 35, of Mastic, now faces charges of promoting prison contraband and criminal possession of a controlled substance in addition to the original charge of criminal sale of a controlled substance.

Michael Sharkey, Sheriff Department's chief of staff, said, "It's really shortsighted of these people. They're not going to be able to get away with it, and they're just going to face additional charges."

Pucci underwent a randomly selected extensive search of inmates entering the facility Friday, Sharkey said, and 14 methadone pills and marijuana were in his possession, along with several balloons.

Sharkey surmised that Pucci intended to put the contraband in the balloons at some point and then hide the balloons in a body cavity, to be removed at a later time.

Periodically people try to bring contraband into the jail through this or similar methods, Sharkey said.

"It's not an everyday occurrence but it's regular enough that we have to be alert for it," he said.