Crime & Public Safety
Woman sentenced for role in Cass County Jail mail-smuggling scheme
A South Dakota woman has been sentenced in Cass County after pleading guilty to charges tied to a scheme that introduced narcotics into the Cass County Jail through the inmate mail system. The defendant, identified by court records as Daria Renville of Sisseton, S.D., received an 18-month custodial sentence handed down in Cass County District Court on Sept. 28 after entering guilty pleas to two felonies.
Court filings and the sentencing entry show the prosecution connected Renville to a multi-defendant conspiracy to deliver or possess with intent to deliver contr substance inside a correctional facility, a Class A felony, and to possession of a Schedule III narcotic, a Class C felony. Authorities credited Renville with 231 days already served and ordered that the 18-month term derive from a 10-year Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation sentence, with the remainder suspended in favor of two years of supervised probation.
Local law enforcement describes the underlying probe as a two-year investigation into narcotics entering the jail through mailed envelopes. Cass County Sheriff Jesse Jahner reported investigators determined the primary controlled substance involved was suboxone and that suspects used heat to open and reseal envelope flaps to conceal drugs, a method that evaded routine detection by jail staff.
Renville was arrested in mid-May in South Dakota on a warrant stemming from an October 2024 charging decision and was transferred to the Cass County Jail to face the charges. The docket notes restitution of court fees in excess of one thousand dollars and records the formal disposition as the guilty pleas and sentencing set out above.
All individuals accused of a crime are presumed innocent unless proven guilty in court.
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All individuals mentioned in criminal allegations are presumed innocent unless proven guilty in a court of law.