ST. LOUIS — A St. Louis Corrections Officer and an inmate were charged after police say the corrections officer brought fentanyl into the Medium Security Institution at least twice last fall, which led to two nonfatal overdoses there.
The corrections officer, Joeisha Cofer, and the inmate, Anthony Chatman, are both facing delivery or possession of a controlled substance at a jail and drug trafficking charges.
Judge David Roither ordered Cofer to be held without bond, noting she is “a danger to the crime victim, the community or another person,” according to court documents.
Police used text messages between Cofer and Chatman to show Cofer brought fentanyl to Chatman on Oct. 23, 2021, according to court documents. Chatman was not supposed to have a cellphone at MSI.
Surveillance footage also showed Cofer interacting with someone inside a car on the parking lot at the jail, and then walking with several items to Chatman’s cell.
On Nov. 18, 2021, after two nonfatal overdoses of MSI inmates, corrections officers searched Chatman’s cell and found 33 fentanyl pills, according to court documents.
Cofer told police she brought fentanyl to Chatman at least twice, according to the documents.
Chatman was being held at the jail along Hall Street on 13 charges related to a shooting on May 18, 2021 in the 2800 block of N. Florissant Avenue. In that shooting, police say two women and three children were in a car when they heard gunfire. Both women were struck but the children were uninjured.
Prosecutors with St. Louis Circuit Attorney Kim Gardner’s Office charged Chatman with four counts of first-degree assault, five counts of armed criminal action, unlawful use of a weapon and unlawful possession of a firearm. Chatman was convicted on a felony robbery charge stemming from an incident in 2016.
