Inmate Uses Franklin County Sheriff's Office Tablet To Plot Drug Smuggling Scheme
Career-Criminal Christopher Freeman, 29, is behind bars at Franklin
County's Jackson Pike jail on a $350,000 bond on five felony charges, including attempted murder.
It didn't stop Freeman from communicating with a Columbus woman and masterminding a plan to smuggle drugs into the jail. Franklin County Sheriff's Office sources say that Freeman used one of several tablets the FCSO makes available to inmates.
According to FCSO and Columbus Division of Police sources familiar with this case, the plan was bold.
Nadira Hassan was supposed to stuff drugs like suboxone and marijuana into drinking straws and, using a blow torch, burn a small hole in the plastic divider that separates inmates from visitors and slip the dope-filled straws through the hole to Freeman.
According to FCSO sources, the tablets are connected to an app that alerts deputies to keywords. Freeman's conversations with Hassan caught the attention of FCSO deputies and Columbus Division of Police detectives investigating Freeman's plan to sneak drugs into the jail which Freeman, according to sources, openly discussed during telephone conversations with Hassan. Inmates phone calls are recorded.
When Hassan showed up on September 20 to visit Freeman, deputies swooped in and arrested the 32-year-old Columbus woman. Hassan had about two dozen straws filled with dope, butane lighter and a blow torch. Deputies also found a loaded handgun in Hassan's vehicle. According to sources, she has a CCW permit.
Hassan, who has no prior criminal record, is charged with illegal conveyance of drug of abuse onto grounds of a detention facility or institution, a felony.
Franklin County Municipal Court Judge Eileen Paley released Nadira Hassan on her own recognizance at last Thursday's arraignment. Hassan's preliminary hearing is scheduled for October 6.
According to court records, Freeman is on parole from the Ohio Dept. of Rehabilitation and Corrections on July 27, 2020, after serving nearly 3 1/6 years in prison for forgery and felonious assault.
At the moment, Freeman has not be charged in the drug-smuggling scheme.
If you have a tip, leave me a message at 614 779-1885 or drop me an email at tom@thesussireport. And you can be anonymous.
Please support the local businesses that support Free Press and The Sussi Report.