Police have arrested and charged a Kailua-Kona couple with multiple offenses after two suspected fentanyl overdoses, one fatal, at Hawaii Community Correctional Center in Hilo.
The suspects are identified as 41-year-old Izaiah Matthew Shields, and his 37-year-old girlfriend, Moriah Joan Goulette.
At 1 p.m. on Thursday, Hilo patrol officers responded to HCCC after staff at the facility reported two unresponsive inmates within a cell. Prior to police arrival, both inmates were taken by ambulance to the Hilo Medical Center Emergency Room.
One of the inmates, 56-year-old Steven Mario Delgado, of Pahoa, was pronounced dead at Hilo Medical Center at 1:34 p.m.
The other inmate, a 33-year-old Hilo man, was treated for drug intoxication and later released.
Police detectives discovered a white rock-like substance, believed to fentanyl, along with three additional items wrapped in latex — packaging consistent with smuggling contraband/narcotics into the facility — within the cell where the suspected overdoses occurred.
A search warrant was written and served on the three items wrapped in latex, resulting in the recovery of 57.03 grams of fentanyl, police said.
Shields was later arrested at HCCC. A search at the Hilo Police Cellblock turned up an additional 2.24 grams of fentanyl on Shields’ body, according to police.
HCCC personnel performed a search of Goulette, which resulted in the recovery of a clear zip-type packet from her mouth, police said. The packet contained a white powdery substance, which later tested positive as fentanyl. Goulette was also arrested and taken to the Hilo Cellblock where more fentanyl was located in her pocket.
A total of a gram of fentanyl was found on Goulette’s body.
Shields was charged with one count each of first-degree promotion of prison contraband, first-degree promotion of a dangerous drug and third-degree promotion of a dangerous drug.
His bail was set at $85,000.
Goulette was charged with one count of first-degree promotion of prison contraband and two counts of third-degree promotion of a dangerous drug
Her bail was set at $45,000.
An autopsy was performed on Delgado and showed no signs of trauma. The final results are pending toxicology results.
This investigation remains ongoing, police said.
See Wednesday’s edition of the Tribune-Herald for a complete story.