GRAND FORKS, ND (trfnews.i234.me) – A 42-year-old Grand Forks man has been sentenced to 12 years in prison for smuggling fentanyl into the Grand Forks County Correctional Center, resulting in two inmate overdoses.
Prosecutors say Jeremie Richard Castoreno hid the drugs inside his court paperwork after a court appearance on Dec. 2, 2024. According to the Grand Forks Narcotics Task Force, surveillance footage showed Castoreno returning to the jail pod with documents, entering a cell with two other inmates, and leaving with the papers folded — later found with a ripped corner containing a paper bindle of fentanyl.
Within minutes, two inmates were found unresponsive and struggling to breathe. Officers administered Narcan before transporting them to Altru Hospital.
Castoreno pleaded guilty to Class A felony delivery of a controlled substance inside a correctional facility, which carries a maximum sentence of 20 years. Judge ordered him to serve 12 years, with credit for 239 days already served.
Authorities say Castoreno was booked into the jail less than a week before the incident and had been in that pod for only two days. He also has two other pending cases involving alleged meth and fentanyl offenses.
I’m Chris Harper reporting for TRF News.