Suffolk County correction officers confiscated drugs from inside an inmate this week, which he tried to smuggle in as he arrived to begin his sentence.
Christopher Reale, a 32-year-old East Hampton man, was sentenced in Suffolk County Court in Riverhead on Tuesday to one year in the county jail on a felony charge of driving while ability impaired by drugs, according to court records.
When he entered the jail, officers found him in possession of suboxone strips and methadone pills, the county sheriffs office said in a statement on Friday.
Investigator Michael Hastings of the Sheriff’s Internal Security Unit interviewed Reale resulting in an admission, search and recovery of the illegal drugs, the sheriffs office said. "Reale had smuggled them into the facility inside a body cavity using a balloon and fishing line to later retrieve the contraband," the statement continued.
Reale now faces additional charges of promoting prison contraband in the first-degree, a felony, and two counts of criminal possession of a controlled substance in the seventh-degree, which is a misdemeanor.
Sheriff Vincent F. DeMarco said, “The diligence of our Investigators and Correction Officers prevents dangerous contraband from being dispersed within our facilities."
Reale was arrested after a car accident in Amagansett on May 4. He was charged with felony DWAI due to two prior convictions in the past 10 years, one of which was on Jan. 24, police said at the time. His 2002 Toyota struck multiple trees along Montauk Highway, near Mitchell Dunes Lane.
He was held without bail and indicted in Suffolk County Criminal Court on May 11. He was released on $1,250 bail on May 17, and remained free on bail until his sentencing on Tuesday, during which time he received pre-sentencing drug treatment, court records indicate. He had pleaded guilty on Oct. 9.
