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Inmate made bad call with tobacco-smuggling plan

He used the jail phone, authorities say, ignoring the warning that all inmate conversations are taped.

By Times Staff Writer
Published August 6, 2005

LECANTO - A plot to smuggle tobacco products in to the Citrus County jail went up in smoke this week, authorities say.

Law officers say inmate Timothy J. Thompson phoned home four times trying to arrange the plan. He wanted his wife to bring tobacco products to a specific place outside the lockup - an arrest report didn't say where - so that jail trusties could retrieve the products and bring them back inside.

There was only one problem: Inmates' calls are subject to screening.

"The defendant was identified on the jail phone monitoring system, which clearly states that the phone call is being recorded, by using his personal pin number, his name and placing the phone call to his home telephone number," an arrest report said.

Thompson, 34, of Beverly Hills was arrested at the jail Friday morning on a charge of unlawfully soliciting another to introduce contraband in to the jail.

The report did not indicate whether Thompson's wife, or any jail trusties, were complicit in the plan.

Thompson has been in the Citrus jail since July 6, records showed. He was transferred there from the Marion County jail, where he was awaiting trial on drug charges.

He was taken to Citrus so he could answer to a charge that he violated the terms of his probation - for the second time - in a felony case.

In May 2003, a deputy tried to stop Thompson as he drove through the streets of Beverly Hills, according to the St. Petersburg Times. Thompson refused to pull over and led the deputies on a five-minute chase, at one point forcing a deputy to pull his cruiser off the street into a yard to avoid a collision.

Thompson later struggled with deputies before he was handcuffed.

He was charged with aggravated assault on a law enforcement officer, fleeing, resisting arrest and driving with a suspended license. One month later, he pleaded no contest and was ordered to spend 25 weekends in jail and serve four years of probation, court records showed.

He was back in court one year later, accused of violating probation. A judge sentenced him to a nine-year prison term, but suspended the sentence pending Thompson's attempt to complete four years of probation.

[Last modified August 6, 2005, 01:36:22]