Jail guard hospitalized after exposure to drugs

GILLETTE (WNE) — A Campbell County jail guard was taken to the hospital Wednesday night after potentially being exposed to a drug of some kind while handling an inmate's belongings.

The guard, a 45-year-old man, began showing signs of fentanyl exposure after handling the inmate’s phone, which had been in storage, and a jail nurse gave the guard Narcan before an ambulance took him to Campbell County Memorial Hospital, where he was eventually cleared, said Undersheriff Quentin Reynolds.

Guards searched the inmate’s property and found about a tenth of a gram of cocaine, Reynolds said.

Although cocaine was found in the inmate’s cell, Sheriff Scott Matheny said the jail guard’s symptoms appeared more typical of exposure to an opiate.

“The call came in as fentanyl exposure,” he said.

The inmate, Kenneth Schilz, 26, was cited for possession of cocaine and use of a controlled substance, Reynolds said.

The guard had shown signs of lightheadedness when another guard, who had worked as an EMT, recognized the man’s symptoms. After calling an ambulance, a jail nurse gave the man Narcan, which appeared to have helped the man’s symptoms, Matheny said.

This story was published on August 7, 2024.