LAFAYETTE, IN — Tippecanoe County sheriff’s deputies are investigating how what an inmate claimed to be Carfentanyl — slang name, “elephant tranquilizer” — ended up in a jail inmate’s cell, along with two makeshift shanks.
On Sunday, officers found 42 individually wrapped packets of a gray substance in a slit cut into a mattress used by inmate Gentle Thomas Jr., who claimed the substance was Carfentanyl, a highly potent opioid, according to prosecutors.
Field tests of the “Carfentanyl” did not indicate any opioids or even illegal substances, according to the probable cause affidavit that broke the substances down to carbonate, sulfate, cooper II, sulfate and Methybyrindium ethyl sulfate.
Tippecanoe County Sheriff Bob Goldsmith said Tuesday they are investigating what the substance is and how it entered the jail.
Jail officers found the two plastic shanks in Thomas in his property basket wrapped in a towel. Thomas told officers he made the shanks for personal protection and he didn’t intend to hurt anyone with them, according to court records.
Thomas, 33, has a history of stabbing people.
He pleaded guilty last month to felony battery on a public official with a deadly weapon and resisting law enforcement. The charges stemmed from a July 9, 2025, incident in Tippecanoe Superior 5 in which he stabbed a deputy prosecutor with a small pencil he’d concealed before his hearing.
Three days before the courtroom stabbing, Thomas stabbed a prison guard in Sullivan County, according to court records.
On Monday, prosecutors charged Thomas with dealing a substance represented to be a controlled substance, a prisoner possessing a dangerous device and a prisoner possessing a deadly weapon. Prosecutors also filed a sentence-enhancing charge accusing Thomas of being a habitual offender.
Thomas was removed from the Tippecanoe County Jail on Monday and transported back to an Indiana prison. He will return on Aug. 21, when he will be sentenced for his 2025 offenses.
Reach Ron Wilkins at rwilkins@jconline.com. Follow on Twitter: @RonWilkins2.
This article originally appeared on Lafayette Journal & Courier: Tippecanoe jail inmate claims to have ‘elephant tranquilizer’ in his cell
Reporting by Ron Wilkins, Lafayette Journal & Courier / Lafayette Journal & Courier
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By Ron Wilkins, Lafayette Journal & Courier | USA TODAY Network
