Former inmate sues over drug ‘sting’

Neil claims officials endangered infant in contraband search

A former inmate of the Blair County Prison has contended in a civil rights lawsuit filed in the U.S. District Court in Johnstown that local officials endangered his newborn daughter by arranging a "sting operation" to catch him and the child's mother allegedly smuggling drugs into the prison.

Jason Paul Neil, 41, was an inmate of the prison in February 2022 when a prison official monitoring Neil's telephone conversations with Michele Loyd came to believe the two were smuggling Suboxone into the prison.

According to the lawsuit, the officer assumed that the contraband was being brought into the prison when Neil had contact visits with his child.

He explained those visits do not take place in the confines of the prison, but in a remodeled former garage adjacent to the prison where they have been conducted for several years.

Neil pointed out that in order for him to continue having visits through the prison program, he had to abide by prison rules, and, according to Neil, the officer suspected he had already violated numerous rules.

Normally, he claimed, when that occurs, the inmate is placed in "administrative custody" or in "investigative segregation."

He said he had "clearly become a security risk."

It would have been proper at that point to strip Neil of all his privileges, which would include his upcoming in-person visit with his child.

Rather than taking action against him, Neil alleges officials ignored policy and procedure and set up a "sting operation," with belief the drugs were being passed during visits that included Loyd and his child.

Hollidaysburg police were contacted as were Blair County Children, Youth & Families and Kids First, the agency that is responsible for the operation of the visitation program.

Neil stated in his lawsuit, "These officers outrageously and blindly arranged an operation where they anticipated drugs to be placed on a minor child.

"Not preventing this situation from ever occurring is knowingly endangering the welfare of a child with malicious intent.

"This was purely a sting operation in which a minor child and her mother were lured into a situation where the hopes were for the mother to endanger her child and because of the location ... to give authorities more leeway to conduct a search without the application for a warrant," Neil contends.

His lawsuit names as defendants: seven prison officials; a coordinator with the County child welfare agency; a director of Kids First; two Hollidaysburg police officers; Blair County Children Youth & Families, and the Blair County Prison.

Neil complains that as the visit commenced, the child was taken into a room and her clothing removed.

News reports at the time indicated seven Suboxone strips were found in the child's clothing.

Neil contended the child "cried and whimpered" during the search.

He is asking the federal court to declare that the constitutional rights of him and Loyd were violated by the sting operation and that he is asking that he and the mother receive compensatory and punitive damages.

The lawsuit also asks that the court issue an injunction ordering the defendants to establish a system to review misconduct within their departments and workplace.

Both Neil and Loyd were arrested and charged with conspiracy, possession with intent to distribute, possession of contraband and criminal use of a communication facility.

Neil is serving two to seven years in the State Correctional Institution at Pine Grove in Indiana County.

He was sentenced by Blair County Judge Timothy M. Sullivan for this and other drug-related offenses.

Loyd's case remains open. State court records indicated her case will be called for a trial list review on Sept. 11.

U.S. Magistrate Judge Keith Pesto in Johnstown will preside over the lawsuit.

Neither the warden nor the chairman of the Blair County Prison Board were available for comment Tuesday.