Ross County — The Ross County Grand Jury met on Friday, July 24, 2026. They returned all 18 of their cases, with eight open for release to the public. From one of the cases,* according to the Ross County Prosecutor’s Office:
On June 20th, an investigator at the Ross Correctional Institution contacted the Ohio State Highway Patrol about an unknown substance conveyed during a visitation with an inmate.
60-year-old Kimberly K. Elder of Litchfield, Ohio (35 miles southwest of Cleveland) was witnessed attempting to hand over an object concealed by a napkin while sitting with the inmate at a visitation table.
Todd Bost, investigator in the Ross County Prosecutor’s Office, said this kind of behavior is often witnessed by prison guards – and sometimes the suspect is arrested at the time, or secretly indicted and investigated.
Elder said she was told to convey the object into the prison. The recipient remains under secret indictment.
For an indictment on third-degree felony “illegal conveyance of drugs of abuse onto the ground of a detention facility,” she could get up to five years and $10,000 in fines.
*The investigators in the Prosecutor’s Office provide law enforcement reports on alleged offenses to the Grand Jury, which then deliberates on each case in secret. After each Grand Jury has adjourned, the investigators then offer a discussion of the law enforcement reports to news media in the cases that are open to release to the public.
