Andi Danielle Rush

     The Sheriff’s Office is filing felony charges against a current female inmate of the Baxter County Jail after investigators determined she had smuggled controlled substance into the facility which led to the overdose of another female inmate.

     ANDI DANIELLE RUSH, 22 years old from Wideman, Arkansas, is being charged with several felony crimes in the incident, which occurred on Monday, September 8^th.  On that date, inmates notified Jailers that a female inmate in the female housing unit was unconscious and barely breathing.  Jailers responded and immediately summoned an ambulance to the jail for the inmate.  The inmate was subsequently transported to Baxter Regional Medical Center for treatment and was admitted overnight.  Investigators learned the inmate had overdosed on a controlled substance that she had snorted, possibly heroin, that had been smuggled into the jail.

     During the investigation, it was learned that an unspecified amount of a controlled substance had been smuggled into the jail by ANDI DANIELLE RUSH when she was booked in on September 8^th at 12:40 PM to serve a sentence of incarceration previously ordered by the District Court.  Although ANDI DANIELLE RUSH was closely searched by a Jailer/Matron, it was revealed in the course of the investigation that she had hidden and concealed the controlled substance in a body orifice where the Jailer/Matron was not allowed to search or look.  The substance ultimately ended up going into the female housing unit with RUSH when she was placed there.

     RUSH admitted to investigators that she smuggled the substance into the jail, admitted giving some of it to the victim to consume, and then admitted flushing the remainder down the toilet when she realized the victim had overdosed and a criminal investigation would follow.  Investigators believe the substance in question may have actually been MDMA “Ecstasy”, although RUSH believed that she had smuggled heroin into the jail.  This belief is based upon results of a substance that investigators field tested during a home search on September 9^th at a residence in Baxter County where the controlled substance that was smuggled into the jail originated from.

     As a result of this incident, ANDI DANIELLE RUSH is being charged with:

Possession of Schedule I Controlled Substance – Felony
Furnishing, Possessing, or Using Prohibited Articles – Felony
Impairing the Operation of a Vital Public Facility – Felony

     She will be held on $25,000 bond with an appearance in Circuit Court set for later this month.

     The inmate who was the victim of the overdose may also face charges at a later time.

/s/ John F. Montgomery,
Baxter County Sheriff