Man accused of supplying drugs to inmate who died

EPHRATA — Charges have been filed against a Moses Lake man who is believed to have supplied drugs to an inmate at the Grant County Jail, The inmate later died at the jail as a result of acute morphine intoxication.

Jordan Tebow, 35, of Moses Lake is facing charges of controlled substances homicide, delivery of cocaine or heroin, intimidating a witness and possession of a controlled substance by a prisoner.

The charges relate to the death of 34-year-old Soap Lake resident Derek Batton. Grant County Coroner Craig Morrison previously told the Columbia Basin Herald that Batton’s death had been labeled as accidental and that the substance he died from was “likely” heroin, due to morphine and heroin being indistinguishable in postmortem testing.

Batton was booked into the jail Aug. 10, a Friday, on various outstanding warrants and found dead in his bunk in the morning hours of Aug. 12, a Sunday. Investigators started looking into Batton’s history and learned from a family member of his past struggles with substance abuse. Jail staff reviewed surveillance video from the jail and found an encounter Batton and Tebow had in a dorm patio on Aug. 11.

“During the video, I could see that Batton at one point appeared to sniff something from the ground with his nose. Later in the video, he wipes his nose a couple of times. I did not see Tebow provide anything to Batton during the video,” wrote a deputy.

Tebow was interviewed by investigators on Aug. 13 and he claimed Batton had heroin, Suboxone strips and sleeping pills, but he did not know if he brought them into the facility or not. He admitted to doing heroin with Batton. He denied however bringing any drugs into the jail. Tebow also claimed Batton had given him a Suboxone strip to give to another inmate. In addition, he claimed he had given drugs to several other inmates, one of whom declined the offer.

He says that he and Batton, who were housed in the same dorm together, did drugs together twice on Aug. 11. Court records lay out several instances of Tebow allegedly lying to investigators, but he did state, however, that after Batton went to sleep on the night of Aug. 11 he stole the drugs he alleged Batton had on him.

After Batton’s body was discovered on Aug. 12 the inmates in his dorm were removed and placed on a bench. Investigators believe Tebow stashed the drugs he had in his sock and was able to put them in the box by the bench before he was strip searched. After the strip search Tebow allegedly took the drugs back out, which is how investigators believe he was able to distribute drugs in the jail after he was searched.

Court documents state Tebow continued using heroin the day after Batton was found and after he returned from the court that day he was allegedly dissolving heroin in water on his bunk when corrections staff saw him hand another inmate some heroin. Officers then entered the dorm and seized heroin and Suboxone strips from Tebow’s bunk. Tebow himself admitted to giving the other inmate drugs in exchange for money when they got out of jail.

When asked if video surveillance would show him giving anything to Batton, Tebow said he gave him his phone number on a piece of a paper. He also said the first time Batton gave him some drugs, he gave the drugs back to him “because it was too much” and “then he broke it up and we did it at the same time.”

The inmate who allegedly declined the drugs from Tebow was interviewed on Aug. 23 and confirmed Tebow’s claim. He did state however that Tebow told him he was the person who had given Batton the drugs and that he had “served him (Batton) up.”

Another inmate told investigators Tebow had given him heroin, in exchange for a bottom bunk, after the discovery of Batton’s body and the inmates from Batton and Tebow’s dorm were moved into the inmate’s dorm.

The inmate who was given the Suboxone, as well as some heroin, said Tebow told him Batton had either bought drugs from him or Batton was giving him his food trays and that Tebow admitted to getting Batton high. The inmate also said Batton did not have any drugs on him when he came into the jail and that after the discovery of Batton’s body Tebow told him he “had better not say that he gave the drugs to Batton.” Another inmate said he did not see Batton do drugs before Tebow arrived in Batton’s dorm.

Richard Byrd can be reached via email at rbyrd@columbiabasinherald.com.