Grant County Inmate Charged With Supplying Drugs That Killed Fellow Prisoner

A man who was in the Grant County Jail in August has now been arrested and charged in the death of another former inmate, who took what turned out to be an overdose of drugs.

35-year-old Jordan D. Tebow had been in the Moses Lake jail beginning August 10th of this year. The next morning, jail workers noticed another inmate, 34-year-old Derek A. Batton was unconscious in the jail dorm.  He was pronounced dead at the jail.

Two days later jail workers caught Tebow slipping drugs to other prisoners, and he became the subject of an investigation.  The investigation revealed he had likely brought heroin, Suboxone (a narcotic pain medication) and and sleeping pills with him when he was booked.

In September an autopsy showed Batton likely died from acute morphine intoxication. Grant County officials this week arrested Tebow and he is being charged with controlled substance homicide and several other charges.

It's believed this is the first case of it's kind in the county. Since the incident, Grant County has purchased a full body scanner as well as a mail scanner, to ensure illegal substances are not being smuggled into the jail. The body scanner will be in operation by the end of December.