Staff Reports
Bartholomew County Coroner Clayton Nolting has ruled the June death of a Bartholomew County Jail inmate as an accidental drug overdose.
Gregory A. Leonard, 47, Clifford, was found unresponsive in the jail on June 6, and was transported to Columbus Regional Hospital, where he was pronounced dead. The coroner’s office confirmed Wednesday that Leonard died of a fentanyl overdose.
Nolting ordered an autopsy, which was performed on June 8, and forwarded the results to Indiana State Police on July 1. The case was investigated by Indiana State Police and is under review by the Bartholomew County Prosecutor’s Office.
The investigation began shortly after 6 p.m. June 6 when a male inmate later identified as Leonard was found unresponsive in the jail, said Sgt. Stephen Wheeles, Indiana State Police spokesman.
Court records indicate Leonard was serving a sentence for a Level 6 felony conviction involving theft after he pleaded guilty in Bartholomew County as part of a plea bargain. His criminal record has notations of charges involving possession of a syringe and possession of methamphetamine, according to past criminal case records.
Although the Bartholomew County Sheriff’s Department is not commenting about the case, Sheriff Matt Myers posted on social media that a “shakedown” of cells in the jail was conducted following the death searching for contraband and removing it for the safety of staff and inmates.
Detectives from the Indiana State Police-Versailles Post were requested to lead the investigation which is normal practice when a death occurs inside a correctional facility.
The county invested $179,000 in a new body scanner, proposing the purchase in 2019, to prevent individuals from smuggling drugs and other contraband into the jail by hiding items in a body cavity.
The death of a 61-year-old Columbus woman on Aug. 9, 2018 in the Bartholomew County Jail was investigated by the Indiana State Police after toxicology results showed the woman had overdosed on methamphetamine while in a jail cell.
Another female jail inmate overdosed on methamphetamine in the jail on Oct. 7, 2017, resulting in the convictions of two other inmates in conjunction with her death that was directly linked to smuggled drugs brought in through a body cavity.
