Correctional officer arrested, jailed

A correctional officer at the Monroe County Jail was arrested Tuesday at a Lowe’s Home Improvement store for theft, possession of a controlled substance, dealing a controlled substance, neglect of a dependent and public intoxication.

The officer, Jason N. Helton, 32, is currently incarcerated in the Monroe County Jail and is isolated from other inmates, said Chief Deputy Mike Pershing with the Monroe County Sheriff’s Office.

Bloomington Police Department Officer Anthony Fosnaugh arrived at Lowe’s at about
1:54 p.m. and found Helton slumped over, swaying severely from side to side with a child’s pacifier in his mouth, said BPD Lt. David Drake, reading from the police report.

Helton was talking to himself while looking closely at his phone and hitting himself repeatedly in the head; he also had a knife hanging out of his pocket and was with his 17-month-old daughter.

BPD found seven knives in his front pocket, two pill bottles in his jacket pocket, $696.30 of stolen goods from the store in his truck and two accomplices in the store.

Brothers Nathan K. Meadows, 32, and David B. Meadows, 35, admitted to stealing property for Helton in exchange for drugs. They were both charged with theft and possession of a controlled substance, Drake said.

Officers determined that the three suspects “hatched this plan while eating lunch at White Castle,” Drake said.

The child was released to the department of protective services, Drake said.