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Smuggled cell phone in jail yields felony

Staff report

A local man allegedly snuck a cellphone into the Pitkin County Jail over the weekend and illegally called a woman who has a restraining order out on him, according to court documents.

Jim Prudhomme, 50, was charged with introducing contraband into the jail, a felony, and violation of a protection order. District Judge Chris Seldin ordered him held Tuesday in lieu of a $10,000 cash-only bond.

A jail deputy reported hearing Prudhomme talking to someone in his cell Friday, which caught her attention because inmates are not allowed to have cellphones or visitors in their jail cell, according to an affidavit filed in Pitkin County District Court.



The deputy told Prudhomme to hand over the phone, which he did after saying he’d been speaking to “a friend,” the affidavit states. The deputy checked the phone number and discovered it belonged to a woman who is the protected party in a restraining order against Prudhomme, according to the affidavit.

The restraining order forbids any communication between Prudhomme and the woman.




The next day, Prudhomme told another jail deputy the phone had been brought into the jail in a bag of clothing by a patrol deputy.

In District Court on Tuesday, prosecutor Sarah Oszczakiewicz said the root of the issues between Prudhomme and the woman stem from the woman’s alleged assault on Prudhomme’s mother.