DOJ: 3 arrested after Atwater correctional officer dies

FRESNO, Calif. ( KSEE/KGPE ) – Three people have been arrested following an investigation into the death of a correctional officer at the U.S. Penitentiary in Atwater, federal prosecutors announced Tuesday.

On Aug. 9, 2024, a correctional officer at the U.S. Penitentiary in Atwater opened a letter and minutes later began to feel ill. According to a statement sent to the Associated Press, the prison employee “began feeling unwell following an exposure to mail saturated in an unknown substance” and was pronounced dead after being rushed to the hospital.

According to court documents, between July 15, 2024, and Aug. 9, 2024, 35-year-old Jamar Jones, an inmate at USP Atwater; 35-year-old Stephanie Ferreira of Evansville, Indiana; and 37-year-old Jermen Rudd III of Wentzville, Missouri, conspired to introduce narcotics into USP Atwater for Jones to sell.

Talbert says as part of that scheme, Jones and Ferreira had Rudd mail a letter laced with narcotics to Jones that was fraudulently labeled as legal mail.

An investigation into the death of a correctional officer led to the arrests of the three defendants on Tuesday, who are charged by criminal complaint with conspiring to distribute controlled substances and introducing narcotic drugs to an inmate at the U.S. Penitentiary in Atwater, U.S. Attorney Phillip A. Talbert announced.

Another correctional officer also fell ill after coming into contact with the narcotics-laced letter but later recovered.

Following the arrests, Ferreira is set to be arraigned on the complaint in the Southern District of Indiana, while Rudd will be arraigned on the complaint in the Eastern District of Missouri. Jones will appear next week in court in Fresno for his initial appearance, federal officials say.

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