“If I told you the amount of pain I feel on a day-to-day basis, we'd be here all day," said Sabrina Weddle.
Her younger brother, 22-year-old Saxon Rodriguez, died in custody at the San Diego County Central Jail, from a fentanyl and methamphetamine overdose in July 2021.
Weddle said she’s now making it her mission to force the San Diego Cunty Sheriff's Department to start screening deputies for contraband before entering their jails.
Deputies Facing Drug Charges
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“This is a never-ending fight until (Sheriff) Kelly Martinez starts scanning her employees and there's a whole year of no inmate jail deaths, I’ma be here," Weddle said.
Weddle and other loved ones of people who've died in San Diego County jails have been calling for jail reform for years, even before some attended Monday’s arraignment for former San Diego County Sheriff’s Deputy Allen Wereski.
The 48-year-old deputy, who worked in the county jails, was arrested earlier this month after deputies at the Vista Detention Center found what they thought was cocaine in his car on jail property.
If we’re scanning the inmates that come in and out of these jails, but were not scanning the employees, obviously there's some kind of loophole where these drugs are getting into the jail and inmates are dying," said Weddle.
Before Sheriff Kelly Martinez took office, a state audit concluded the Sheriff's Department didn't do enough to prevent in-custody deaths, many of which were drug overdoses.
Sheriff Martinez declined NBC 7’s request for an interview Monday, but soon after Wereski's arrest this month on a felony drug charge, she said this about screening deputies.
"I don’t think scanners are going to be the answer for screening deputies or any of our staff that are going into the jails on a regular basis. They’re going in and out every day, but there are other things that we can do. And just for jail security purposes, I’d rather not discuss what those are," Martinez said.
Jail reform advocates disagree.
“They think they’re not bringing drugs in, but in January and February we’re finding deputies that had drugs on them, so this is imperative. How much data do you need to say that we’re going to investigate and scan everyone for the public good," explained Yusef Miller of the North County Justice and Equity Coalition.
Wereski is out on $25,000 bail.
His arrest came just weeks after another San Diego Sheriff's Deputy was arrested for allegedly stealing prescription drugs from drop boxes.
While they await their days in court, Weddle and others who’ve lost loved ones in San Diego County’s jails are wondering, where’s their justice.
“This deputy got to make it to his court date today. He didn't die in jail, he got to bail out. My brother did not,“ said Weddle. I just feel this person needs to be held accountable. The whole San Diego Sheriff’s Department as a whole needs to be held responsible and accountable.”
While Sheriff Martinez said she’s not planning on making deputies go through scanners, it was recently reported the sheriff's department in Phoenix plans to make all jail employees go through scanners.
