Men scale New Orleans jail wall to deliver drugs
New Orleans LA November 28 2018
A man is behind bars after he or one of his accomplices climbed over the outer wall of the Orleans Parish jail, apparently to deliver packages of drugs to someone at the jail, then tried to flee back over the wall, the Orleans Parish Sheriff’s Office said.
Nicholas Celius, 23, was booked Tuesday morning on drug-related and resisting police charges following Monday night’s alleged failed plan to drop off the drugs by scaling the wall, according to court records and a news release from the sheriff’s office. At least two other unnamed men authorities say were also involved are still at large, OPSO said.
About 10 p.m. Monday, the release states, staff at the jail saw live security camera footage of a “civilian male approaching the outer secure perimeter wall surrounding the jail campus.” The man climbed over the wall, OPSO said, and jail staff responded.
The man fled “with at least two accomplices” who were waiting nearby, the release states. But the man who entered and then left the jail grounds by climbing the wall “left behind” several packages containing narcotics and other contraband, OPSO said. The packages “were intended to be introduced into the facility through a recreation yard,” the release states.
OPSO notified New Orleans Police Department as the man and his accomplices fled, the release states, and NOPD officers apprehended one of them, now identified as Celius. It was not immediately clear if Celius was the man who made it over the wall. But officers found him with a backpack containing marijuana, crack cocaine and heroin, the release states.
Celius faces charges of possession of marijuana, possession of cocaine, possession of heroin and resisting an officer. It was not immediately clear if he was represented by an attorney.
Orleans Parish Sheriff Marlin Gusman noted “constant efforts” of people to bring drugs into the jail and his staff’s commitment to “aggressively combat” the introduction of the contraband.
“We appreciate the diligence of our staff to detect this latest threat, as well as the quick response of the New Orleans Police Department,” Gusman said in a statement.
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