By Ray King
A Little Rock woman who worked as a nurse at the Cummins Unit of the Arkansas Department of Corrections was arrested Friday after contraband was found in her shoes.
When Ava Bradford, 36, reported for work, she took off her shoes and placed them in the X-Ray machine, State Police Special Agent Billy McCradic said in a probable cause affidavit presented in district court Monday.
Deputy Prosecutor Caleb Conrad said a corrections officer noticed what appeared to be bulges in Bradford’s shoes and when the soles were removed, the officer found three bags of a brown vegetable substance believed to be synthetic marijuana, a bag of a crystal-like substance believed to be methamphetamine and loose tobacco.
McCradic reported that Bradford was not interviewed because she asked for an attorney.
Conrad said prosecutors take the charge of furnishing prohibited articles quite seriously and asked for a $25,000 bond for Bradford which Pine Bluff District Judge John Kearney granted after ruling prosecutors have probable cause to charge her with furnishing prohibited articles and possession of a controlled substance methamphetamine.
The Public Defender’s Office was appointed to represent Bradford.
