WOODVILLE – In what one could describe as a sort of Russian nesting doll of contraband discovery, two arrests were made by the Tyler County Sheriff’s Office and felony charges resulted.
According to Tyler County Sheriff Bryan Weatherford, on Monday, Jan. 5, a routine safety check inside of the Tyler County Justice Center turned up a glove that was inside of a paper bag, which was inside of a large Styrofoam cup. Inside of the glove, jailers discovered more than two dozen nicotine pouches as well as snuff.
Weatherford said that after deputies listened to recorded inmate phone lines and viewed video surveillance, they discovered the tobacco contraband was left for Dana Marie Potts, a 40-year-old Colmesneil resident who is being held inside the facility on a warrant for felony controlled substance possession (motion to adjudicate) and a Polk County warrant for the same charge, with a motion to revoke probation attached. Additionally, Potts was charged with felony prohibited substance/items in a correctional facility. Pct. 1 Justice of the Peace Tina Self set her bond at $50,000 on the fresh charge.
An investigation revealed that Ronzie Gerald Bankston, 46, of Colmesneil, was the one who placed the items in the restroom. Self issued an arrest warrant for him, and he was arrested the following day in the Tyler County District Courtroom while he was attending a pre-trial hearing for Potts.
Bankston was booked into the Tyler County Justice Center and charged with felony prohibited substance/items in a correctional facility. Self set his bond at $50,000.
