'Deadlock' at jail for suspect facing conspiracy to commit murder
- Jamie Duffy
- Sep 19
- 3 min read
Updated: Sep 20
Three face same charge, $600K bail for accused drug dealer
FORT WAYNE, Ind. ---Sometimes it’s safer biding your time in jail rather than being released to the streets.
If you’re not in jail, you might wish you were. Every shadow could make you jump; every trip to the corner gas station, a visceral worry.
That is probably the case for a confidential informant involved in a drug case here in Allen County.
Jason Bridges , 45, facing umpteen charges for dealing drugs of just about any kind drug you can think of- fentanyl, cocaine, methamphetamine, marijuana and psilocybin mushrooms - was placed in “deadlock” Wednesday at the Allen County Jail, according to online court documents.
“The defendant poses an immediate danger to the safety of the CI in this cause. The Court now grants said motion for deadlock and places the defendant in administrative deadlock without phone, mail, tablet messages or visitation privileges, except for communication with his attorney or member of the Allen County Public Defender’s Office,” so dictates an order granted by Allen Superior Court Judge Steven Godfrey.
Related article here:
Bridges’ public defender is out of Whitley County, online documents indicate.
Bridges is the third individual to have an added charge of “conspiracy to commit murder (where it) does not result in death, according to online documents. In Bridges’ case, the incident dates back to July 23.
The other two charged with conspiracy to commit murder (where it) does not result in death are Redena Hire, 54, and Alexis Drake, 20.
The women face a second charge for “assisting a criminal but the criminal assisted by providing a deadly weapon.”
The Probable Cause, tipped off by alert readers, has not been able to obtain probable cause affidavits for these conspiracy-related charges or for Bridges.
From left: Redena Hire, Alexis Drake, Jason Bridges.
Bridges was booked into the Allen County Jail Sept. 2 after a raid on a home at 1038 Railroad Street in New Haven at 9:40 a.m., conducted by FWPD’s Vice & Narcotics unit and the Emergency Services Team, more commonly known as SWAT.
The probable cause affidavit submitted by the Fort Wayne Police Department said a CI bought meth, cocaine and fentanyl on prior occasions and that day officers found plenty.
All the drugs were in amounts way bigger than what personal use would dictate.
Also on that day, Bridges was taken into custody along with a female not identified in the probable cause.
True to form, police found guns and important documents, this time in a locked Winchester safe. There was a stolen Smith& Wesson semi-automatic pistol and keys to a bronze 2005 Toyota Matrix and two motorcycles, “all of which the defendant was known to drive,” court documents said.
Obviously not employed in a 9-to-5 job, Bridges was surprised that day around 10 a.m. wearing only boxer shorts. He asked the officers for “a pair of pants.”
Bridges directed the officer to his bedroom where a cell phone lay on the bed. The officer called the number given to him by the CI - the one he or she used to arrange to buy drugs - and that phone rang.
There’s no online indication that the cases of Bridges, Hire and Drake are connected, but it makes you wonder when all three cases are sealed and the charges are identical.
Bridges is not accused of assisting a criminal.
Hire and Drake were to appear in court Friday (today). Online documents indicate their next hearing is Oct. 1 with a follow-up on Nov. 19.
Each is being held in lieu of $50,000 bail on the conspiracy charge; the second charge is an “OR” - release on her own recognizance - with pre-trial services.
Friday, (today), Bridges was denied a motion to suppress evidence on a pro se motion, meaning he filed it himself. HIs next court hearing is scheduled for Jan. 30.
He is being held in lieu of $600,000, according to a spokesman at the Allen County Jail.
The Probable Cause will update this story as information comes in.
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