A 70-year-old Episcopal priest in Maine has been arrested and charged with smuggling illegal prescription drugs to prisoners during jail visits. According to the local sheriff’s department, the priest who has been serving as interim pastor at St. Mark’s Episcopal Church in Augusta, has admitted to the charges against him. The Bangor Daily News reports from Wiscasset, Maine:
The Rev. Stephen Foote, 70, of Bremen allegedly smuggled the drug suboxone into the jail at least twice during the month of October, according to Lincoln County Sheriff’s Department Detective Michael Murphy.
Foote, who was arrested and bailed out of jail on Nov. 1, is charged with Class C trafficking in prison contraband. Charged with Class D attempted trafficking in prison contraband in the case are Joshua Theriault Patten, 25, of Bremen, who Murphy said is one of Foote’s parishioners, and Adam Shawley, 27, of Newport. Murphy said Patten and Shawley arranged for the drug to be mailed to Foote, who then brought it into the jail.
Murphy said suboxone is most commonly used to fight opiate addiction, though he said he suspects that Patten and Shawley were using it recreationally.
Read full story here.