Arizona officials: 5 inmates overdosed on fentanyl pills

Authorities say an investigation has shown that five inmates at Arizona’s Mohave County Jail who survived overdoses last month took counterfeit prescription pills manufactured with fentanyl, a powerful synthetic painkiller.

The Mohave County Sheriff’s Office said Wednesday all five inmates recovered following treatment April 16 with a drug used to reverse the effects of an opioid overdose. One man also required the use of a defibrillator.

Investigators from a local narcotics enforcement task force subsequently discovered evidence that indicated 24-year-old inmate Jonathan Hutchinson allegedly brought 30 pills designed to look like hydrocodone tablets into the jail hidden inside his body.

The sheriff’s office is seeking charges against Hutchinson and two other inmates. It is unclear if Hutchison and the others were among those who suffered overdoses.