JENKS TWP., Pa. (EYT) — A Forest County woman and a former Leeper man are facing felony charges for drug smuggling into SCI Albion following a joint investigation between the U.S. Postal Service and Punxsutawney-based State Police Troop-C Vice Unit.

Court documents indicate PSP-Punxsutawney filed criminal charges against 33-year-old Shauna L. Ochs, of Marienville, and 31-year-old Jesse William Solomon, currently lodged at SCI-Albion.

According to a criminal complaint, on January 31, a Vice Unit officer, of PSP Troop C-Punxsutawney, was assigned to investigate information that was received from a security officer at SCI Albion relating to intercepted phone calls from the jail which led him to believe that controlled substances were being sent through the U.S. mail and being carried into SCI Albion.

The security officer advised that on one of the calls made by a known inmate, the inmate told an unknown party to mail fifty “shirts” and gave the party Shauna Ochs’ name and address.

The vice officer then contacted the U.S. Postal Service and advised them of the issue. He was later advised that two international packages and then three envelopes addressed to Ochs were interdicted by the U.S. Postal Service from the Marienville Post Office in Jenks Township, Forest County. The three envelopes had a return address from Philadelphia.

The vice officer was advised and later provided with a report, that a PSP detection dog had alerted to the presence of controlled substances in each of the three envelopes on February 5 and that the U.S. Postal Inspector was seeking a search warrant to open the envelopes.

The vice officer was advised that on February 6, the U.S. Postal Inspector applied for and was granted a search warrant for the envelopes and upon executing it, each envelope was found to contain five foil factory packets of 8 mg suboxone sublingual films (strips).

On February 8, a controlled delivery of the three envelopes to Shauna Ochs was performed. The envelopes were transported by the U.S. Postal Inspector to PSP-Marienville. The vice officer observed the envelopes and their contents and took photographs of them. The envelopes were then resealed by the postal inspector and transported to the Marienville Post Office where they were placed in Ochs’s post office box. The postal inspector maintained control of them and surveillance from the post office. Prior to this, the vice officer had completed surveillance of the listed address for Ochs and observed a black Jeep SUV at the residence. A check of the registration of this vehicle revealed that it was registered to Ochs. During the course of surveillance, Ochs was observed traveling to her place of employment, according to the complaint.

Just prior to 4:00 p.m. on February 8, the vice officer observed Ochs leave her place of employment in her vehicle. He followed Ochs as she traveled to the Marienville Post Office and pulled into the parking lot. At 4:05 p.m., Ochs entered the post office, and the vice officer was advised by the postal inspector that Ochs had retrieved her mail and had opened all of it except the three suspect envelopes, the complaint states.

At 4:10 p.m., Ochs was observed exiting the post office at which time the vice officer encountered her at the driver’s door of her vehicle, identified himself as a PA State Trooper, displayed his badge, and directed her back into the post office. The three envelopes were seized, and Ochs was transported from the post office back to PSP Marienville.

At 4:21 p.m. on February 8, the vice officer read Ochs her Miranda Rights, and she acknowledged that she understood her rights. Ochs was subsequently interviewed by the vice officer and the U.S. Postal Inspector. At the conclusion of the interview, Ochs provided a four-page written statement.

When asked what was in the envelopes, Ochs stated that it was probably suboxone strips. When asked how many of these packages from Philadelphia she had received in the past, she stated at least one but may have been more. She advised that she drops them off to her boyfriend’s (Jesse Solomon) friend in Edinboro. She stated that she has also carried them into SCI Albion. She related that she had passed sixty to Solomon, who is a prisoner at SCI-Albion. She allegedly explained that she had received thirty in an envelope through the mail and had bought another thirty and had wrapped them in saran wrap and then put them in a balloon, carried them into the jail either in her pocket or her bra, and then passed them to Solomon by mouth during visits. She allegedly stated that Solomon told her how to do it and that she had done it twice prior, once in August of 2017, and once in November of 2017 after Thanksgiving, the complaint states.

Ochs stated that she had received some by mail and was directed by Solomon who to buy more from. She stated that after that instance, she had told Solomon that she could not afford to spend her own money on this. Later, Solomon told her that she would receive them by mail and that it wouldn’t cost her anything. She said that Solomon was selling them in the jail for $80.00 per strip, according to the complaint.

The suboxone strips were entered as evidence at PSP-Marienville as well as the original statement provided by Ochs. A request to have the packets of suboxone strips sent to the Erie Regional Laboratory for testing was completed.

Based on the investigation, charges were filed at the office of The Honorable Daniel L. Miller on Wednesday, February 28.

Ochs was arraigned at 10:15 a.m. on Wednesday, February 28, on the following charges:

– Manufacture, Delivery, or Possession With Intent to Manufacture or Deliver, Felony
– Contraband/Controlled Substance, Felony 2 (two counts)

She is currently free on $20,000.00 unsecured bail.

A preliminary hearing is scheduled for 11:00 a.m. on Tuesday, March 27, with Judge Miller presiding.

Solomon faces the following charges:

– Manufacture, Delivery, or Possession With Intent to Manufacture or Deliver, Felony
– Contraband/Controlled Substance, Felony 2 (two counts)

A preliminary hearing for Solomon is scheduled for 11:30 a.m. on March 27 in Judge Miller’s office.