WPSO: Probationer busted for attempted drug smuggling
Published 10:38 am Monday, June 19, 2017
- Leigh Cutrer
A Bogalusa man was arrested Monday for attempting to smuggle illegal drugs into the Washington Parish Jail, according to Chief Deputy Mike Haley of the Washington Parish Sheriff’s Office.
Haley said that on Friday evening, an alert Washington Parish Jail staff member intercepted a cache of drugs that a probationer was attempting to smuggle into the jail. Leigh Edward Cutrer, 37, a resident of Spring Valley Road in Bogalusa, was serving a probation sentence that required him to regularly report to the jail to serve a specified number of days as a requirement of his probation, Haley said.
Haley said that as soon as Cutrer passed through the security door into the jail, he was searched by members of the jail staff, who reportedly discovered a quantity of marijuana, hydrocodone pills and tobacco. The contraband was seized and Cutrer was placed in a cell block.
Jail staff confiscated a number of drugs that Leigh Cutrer allegedly tried to smuggle into the jail.
A warrant was prepared for Cutrer and signed by a 22nd Judicial Court Judge on Monday morning, Haley said. Cutrer was formally booked on his new charges of felony introduction of contraband, felony possession of Schedule IV drugs and misdemeanor possession of Schedule I drugs. Bond will be set for the new charges later this week, but he will not be eligible for release due to violation of his probation.
Cutrer’s original arrest was April 26, 2016, on a charge of attempted second-degree murder. He was released the following day after posting a $125,000 bond. In January 2017, Cutrer began serving a term of probation that required that he spend a specified number of days in the jail. Acting on suspicion that Cutrer was attempting to introduce contraband, Haley said the jail staff intercepted him when he reported to jail Friday night and discovered the contraband.
“Our amazing jail staff does not receive the recognition they deserve,” Washington Parish Sheriff Randy Seal said. “They are the unsung heroes of the criminal justice system and do an awesome job of managing the jail population. Their job is very demanding and very difficult, but they perform their duties in a very professional manner. I tip my hat to them for a job well done.”