Fifth Person Charged With Sneaking Drugs, Other Items Into Manatee County Jail: Sheriff

MANATEE COUNTY, FL — A fifth person has been charged in connection with a scheme to bring contraband, including drugs, into Manatee County Jail.

Jena Marie Greco, 35, has been charged with conspiracy to introduce vape pens and/or cigarettes into a county detention facility, the Manatee County Sheriff’s Office said in a news release.

During a narcotics investigation, Greco told detectives that she met with a former food services employee at the jail, Gretchen “Granny” Rupprecht, 66, on several occasions, giving her cash, cigarettes, vape pens and items containing a liquid form of THC.

Rupprecht then brought those items into the jail and gave them to inmate Corey Crews, 35, the sheriff’s office said.

On Jan. 23, a team of deputies and K-9s conducted a search at the jail and found controlled substances in two separate cells.

In a joint narcotics investigation by the Investigative Bureau, Corrections Investigative Unit and Professional Standards Staff, investigators learned that Rupprecht was sneaking contraband into the jail.

She admitted to her involvement in the scheme bring drugs. Rupprecht, who was arrested Friday, was charged with two counts of introduction of contraband and terminated from her position at the jail, the sheriff’s office said.

Three inmates — Crews, Dalton Cook and Adrian Conde — were also each charged with conspiracy to introduce drugs into a county detention facility.