CELINA — Acting on a tip, sheriff deputies arrested two women returning to Mercer County with drugs hidden in their vaginal cavities late Monday.
Paige W. Waterman, 29, and Chelsie M. Hedge, 21, both of Celina, were arrested, Mercer County Sheriff Jeff Grey said.
The Sheriff’s Office received a tip earlier in the day two women were on their way to Dayton to buy drugs and would be returning to Mercer County. The caller identified both women by name, the vehicle they would be driving, and said they would hide the drugs in a body cavity if they were stopped by police, Grey said.
Deputies spotted the vehicle and stopped it at 10:12 p.m. on Coldwater Creek Road east of St. Anthony Road for a traffic violation. No drugs or paraphernalia were found in the vehicle, Grey said.
Based on the tip and information gathered during the traffic stop, deputies obtained a search warrant for a search of the body cavities of the women, Grey said.
Before the search warrant was secured, both women removed a syringe from their vaginal cavity areas. Still concerned, deputies took the women to Mercer Health Hospital to execute the search warrant, and nothing else was found, Grey said.
Waterman and Hedge were then taken to jail on the charge of possession of drug abuse instruments, a misdemeanor. Additional charges were expected, Grey said.
The women each were being held in lieu of $100,000 bail, Grey said.
Obtaining a search warrant for a body cavity search is rare, but because of the health and safety risk of those involved, such warrants are becoming more common, Grey said.
“This is yet another obstacle law enforcement has to deal with not only on the street, but also inside the Adult Detention Facility with drugs, and drug paraphernalia being concealed and transported inside body cavities,” Grey said.
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