More charges have been filed against a nurse accused of bringing bombs and drugs to her job at the Alexander Correctional Institution.
Sherry Stella Bortz, 48, was arrested Friday after officers found two pipe bombs and prescription narcotics in her car.
On Wednesday morning she was charged with possession with intent to sell and deliver Schedule III narcotics.
The additional charges stemmed from the fact that the 13 Vicodin pills found in Bortz's car were packaged in individual plastic bags, said Detective Tim Simms of the Alexander County Sheriff's Office.
Bortz had previously been charged with two counts of possession of weapons of mass destruction and possession of a controlled substance on prison premises.
Investigators spent Tuesday searching Bortz's home on Friendship Road in Alexander County's Whittenburg community. They spent hours in the gray singlewide mobile home looking for more of the pipe, candles, black powder and screws used in the pipe bombs they found in Bortz's car.
They also were looking for illegal drugs, pharmaceuticals and answers. Officers want to know why Bortz would bring bombs and drugs to a prison.
Their search warrant sheds some light on their suspicions.
On Jan. 23, the Caldwell County Sheriff's Office got a Crimestoppers tip that Bortz was on her way to the Caldwell County jail to try to break her son out. They were told that she might have explosives with her, according to the warrant.
Her son, Jeffery Allen Bortz, 26, had been arrested Jan. 7 and charged with possession of cocaine with intent to sell and distribute and probation violation. He is being held in the Caldwell County jail under a $124,000 secured bond.
"The Caldwell County Sheriff's Office followed up on the call and followed their protocol for a bomb threat," said Alexander County Sheriff Chris Bowman. No arrest was made.
On Jan. 29, Chief Deputy Tod Jones of the Alexander County Sheriff's Office got a call from an anonymous tipster telling him that Bortz was headed to the Alexander prison with marijuana and pills, according to the warrant.
Jones notified the prison.
Bortz was at the prison working her nursing shift and her car was in the parking lot. She gave officers permission to search her car and they found Vicodin pills and two pipe bombs in a plastic bag under the seat.
Bortz was arrested and taken to the Caldwell County jail — the same jail that's housing her son.
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