By Natalie Neysa Alund
Knoxville News-Sentinel
RUTLEDGE, Tenn. — A Rutledge mother is facing criminal charges for allegedly forcing her 12-year-old daughter to smuggle tobacco and prescription drugs into a local jail for her husband.
Gretchen Lanae Whitt, 30, of 1680 Central Point Road was arraigned Tuesday on one count of introduction of contraband into a penal facility during a hearing before Grainger County General Sessions Judge J. Wayne Wolfenbarger.
Whitt, who has a lengthy criminal history dating back to 2003 that includes theft, burglary and drug possession charges, also is charged with criminal trespass and contributing to the delinquency of a minor stemming from the June 5 incident outside the Grainger County Jail.
According to an affidavit filed by Grainger County Sheriff’s Department Lt. Brandon Smith, at 10:20 a.m. Smith and two other deputies saw Whitt drive a silver Honda Accord into the restricted rear parking lot of the Grainger County Justice Center, where the jail is located.
When the Accord stopped, a girl, later identified as Whitt’s 12-year-old daughter, got out of the passenger side of the car, the af fidavit shows. The girl had a white plastic bag and attempted to throw it into a fenced-in recreation area of the jail where prisoners are housed, Smith wrote.
Deputies stopped Whitt, the report continues, and recovered the bag. Deputies discovered tobacco and four pieces of an orange colored pill believed to be Suboxen - a prescription drug used to treat withdrawals from opiates - inside the bag, the affidavit states.
When questioned about the bag, the report states, Whitt said she directed the 12-year-old girl to deliver the tobacco.
Whitt was booked into the Grainger County Jail and posted a $3,000 bond on June 6.
She’s due back in court for a hearing on her charges Aug. 25, a court clerk said Tuesday.
Her husband, Jeff Graham, 43, of 1680 Central Point Road, is currently being held at the jail without bond on drug-related charges, according to the Grainger County Sheriff’s Department.
A Grainger County grand jury indicted him in May on two felony drug delivery charges. He is due in court Monday for a hearing on the matter, a court clerk said.
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