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The Multnomah County Sheriff’s Office has confirmed to WW that a county employee is under criminal investigation following suspicions she “provided contraband to adults in custody.”
The employee named by the sheriff’s office, Trisha Gibson, is a certified medication aide working in the county jails. She vehemently denies the accusations.
The county health department employs around a dozen such aides in the jail, where they perform rounds and provide prescribed medication to patients. The county says she’s been on administrative leave since Oct. 31, but declined to comment further.
The sheriff’s office declined to specify the contraband in question. “To protect the integrity of the investigation we’re not going to say exactly what it was,” Deputy John Plock said in an email.
When reached by phone, Gibson said she had no idea why she was being investigated. “We have to go through security. We’re on camera 24/7. There’s nothing you could bring in,” she said. “The only thing I could think of is retaliation from the inmates.”
Multnomah County jails are in turmoil following an unprecedented series of deaths—seven already this year. The jail is struggling to stem an influx of illicit drugs seeping into its facilities, and Sheriff Nicole Morrisey O’Donnell has said some of the deaths may be drug-related.
She subsequently reinstituted mandatory strip searches of inmates. O’Donnell told OPB earlier this year she didn’t suspect jail staff of smuggling in drugs.
