FARGO, ND (KFGO) – Just over a year after it was installed, an X-ray machine is paying off at the Cass County Jail.
All inmates are scanned when they arrive at the jail. Capt. Andy Frobig, the jail administrator, says “Securepass” detects metal and other objects that may have been smuggled into the jail in the past. In one case, a woman had hidden counterfeit bills in a body cavity.
“The report I got was that it was just shy of $2,000 in counterfeit money rolled up and stuffed inside, guessing that the motivation was not to try to smuggle it into jail but rather to prevent being caught with it so that’s the kind of thing we turn over to federal authorities for consideration of prosecution and try to find the source of it,” Frobig said.
Marijuana, meth, pills and drug paraphernalia have also been found along with a key and a nail clipper.
Frobig says he is surprised that no inmate has tried to sneak in a cell-phone. One inmate had a gun in an ankle-holster that was discovered before he went through the scanner.
The scans take only about 10 sec. The equipment cost about $150,000.