CLEARFIELD – An inmate who smuggled drugs into a state prison by swallowing balloons filled with marijuana and suboxone pleaded guilty Monday during a special sentencing session.
An inmate of SCI Houtzdale, Eli Samuel Rosa, 26, pleaded guilty to a felony charge of possession of a controlled substance by inmate.
President Judge Fredric J. Ammerman gave him a 24 to 48 months state prison sentence that will run concurrent with the sentence he is currently serving for a 2013 assault in Philadelphia.
Rosa addressed the court, noting this incident happened in April of 2014. He asked why the charges weren’t filed sooner, adding that he will complete his current sentence in February. Now, he said he is being held in prison for this new charge.
Ammerman explained that it takes time to get a substance tested in a lab, but he noted the delay is not usually this long. He then said he would start Rosa’s sentence on the date the charges were filed in September of 2015.
According to the affidavit of probable cause, in April of 2014 Rosa was suspected of exchanging unidentified items with a visitor while sharing food during a visit. Rosa was taken to a dry cell and after he defecated, his feces were searched. Officers uncovered three balloons. There was one that contained suboxone and two that held marijuana.
At first when Rosa was questioned by police, he admitted he had been caught with the drugs but would not talk anymore about it.
When he was interviewed again a few days later, he stated he had the balloons in his possession prior to the visit, when he was outside in the yard. He was notified he had a visitor and he decided to get rid of the balloons by giving them to another inmate. Because there was no one around, he swallowed the balloons when he reached a water fountain.
He stated that he knew he was on the “DOC’s radar” and they think he got the “stuff” in the visiting room. He repeatedly told officers that the female visitor did not give him the substances.
Instead, he explained he and the woman, who is the mother of his child, were arguing and to lighten things up, he switched his burger with hers. Not long after this, an officer came in and arrested him.
He claimed he had “stuff” before but she never brought anything. Without saying who brought it to him, he said there were several ways to get drugs including through the CO’s, mail or food. He stated that this is “all political.”