RUTHERFORD COUNTY, N.C. (WSPA) – Four inmates overdosed and one inmate is dead at the Rutherford County Detention Center.
According to the sheriff’s office, on Jan. 12 at 4:56 a.m. a med-tech nurse and a detention officer located inmate Andrew Franklin Hodge unresponsive in his cell. Hodge was being housed in the cell by himself.
E.M.S. and Rutherfordton Fire Department arrived on the scene and soon after pronounced Hodge dead, deputies said. Sheriff Francis requested the State Bureau of Investigation (S.B.I.) to come and investigate the death.
Officials said Hodge was being held on no bond for multiple charges to include murder and discharge weapon into an occupied dwelling. The investigation into Hodge’s death is ongoing.
On the evening of Jan. 11, four inmates were transported from Rutherford County Detention Facility to Rutherford Regional Hospital because of overdose symptoms, RCSO said. Narcan was used, E.M.S. and the fire department responded and all four inmates were responsive before being transported to the hospital.
Deputies said the inmates were medically cleared after being at Rutherford Regional Hospital for some hours and taken back to Rutherford County Detention Facility, where they were placed in special observation cells.
The Criminal Apprehension Team, Narcotic Unit and deputies searched several cells to try and locate what the inmates may have ingested, officials said. The investigation as to where the drugs came from and how they entered the Rutherford County Detention Facility and led to the overdoses is ongoing.
