Wagoner County deputies arrest one of their detention officers, accused of smuggling drugs into the jail. Investigators say the jailer, Kardareous Freeman, got the drugs from a woman who was dating an inmate and Freeman would pass the drugs onto the inmate.
Friday, September 26th 2025, 3:08 pm
By: Reagan Ledbetter
WAGONER COUNTY –
Wagoner County deputies arrest one of their detention officers, accused of smuggling drugs into the jail.
Investigators say the jailer, Kardareous Freeman, got the drugs from a woman who was dating an inmate and Freeman would pass the drugs onto the inmate.
Deputies say another inmate came forward and told deputies what was happening.
They say the detention officer, Kardareous Freeman, admitted to it, and said he had brought drugs into the jail four or five times and got paid through Cash App.
The investigation
Wagoner County deputies arrested detention officer Kardareous Freeman, current inmate Timothy Yarnell and Yarnell’s girlfriend, Jamie Starr, who deputies say all worked together to get drugs into the Wagoner County jail.
When confronted, Freeman told investigators Starr would text him and the two would meet at a Wagoner gas station, and she’d give him drugs that he took back to the jail, and Yarnell would then distribute the drugs to other inmates. Starr then paid Freeman through Cash App.
“When it’s one of your own, it’s an employee here, it is almost impossible to keep that from happening, so our response is when we become aware of it, we act immediately and decisively and make the arrest,” said Sheriff Chris Elliott.
Investigators learned Freeman and Starr had another meeting planned, but this time, deputies showed up at the gas station instead of Freeman.
“So, we set up a sting on that, and we went out and she actually sold again to undercover people and we arrested her,” said Elliott. “When we arrested her, we found that she had the same narcotics on her that had been smuggled into the jail, which was suboxone and methamphetamine.”
Contraband is a constant problem
Sheriff Elliott says contraband is a problem at jails and prisons all over the United States, and it’s a constant battle for law enforcement to keep drugs out of jails.
Wagoner County got a full-body scanner for the jail a year ago, and Elliott says it’s been a game-changer.
“All the techniques we use and things we’ve been trained on are just not absolute. The body scanner is set up; it’s a medical-grade scanner, it scans through the whole body,” said Elliott.
Sheriff Elliott says they had a lot of fentanyl getting into the jail before the body scanners, but he says that’s now reduced drastically.
Elliott says that the scanner revealed that when they booked Starr into the jail, she had additional drugs in her body.
Related: Safety in jails: How a new body scanner in Wagoner County helps keep inmates and staff safe
Criminal History
The inmate, Timothy Yarnell, was in jail for domestic strangulation and other charges. Records show he’s been in and out of prison since 2011 and most recently got out last December.
