A yoga instructor employed at a women’s prison was arrested after she was caught with a hidden stash of drugs inside the radio she was carrying.
Patricia Rossato, 68, was taken into custody Sunday at the Homestead Correctional Institution in South Florida during entry when a sergeant smelled a strong odor coming from the device, the arrest report read.
When the officer unwrapped the radio, he found ‘five grams of suspected marijuana, 41 blue pills of suspected ecstasy and 55 pink pills of suspected ecstasy,’ WPLG Local 10 reported.
Rossato told the officer the radio was borrowed and covered with black electrical tape because it was broken.
South Florida prison yoga instructor Patricia Rossato, 68, has been accused of hiding marijuana and ecstasy pills inside radio
Rossato was taken into custody Sunday at the Homestead Correctional Institution in South Florida during entry
Rossato has been charged with three counts – possession of marijuana with intent to distribute and trafficking of ecstasy.
The yoga teacher was jailed at the Turner Guilford Knight Correctional Center.
In Rossato’s Monday court appearance, a colleague who worked with her defended her in a statement.
The fellow yoga teacher told the judge he believed inmates may have stashed the marijuana and ecstasy in the radio.
Rossato appeared in court Monday (pictured above with judge) She has been charged with three counts – possession of marijuana with intent to distribute and trafficking of ecstasy
‘We take in a CD cassette player every week. We take the same player and, I think it was last month, I forgot to take the player out with me,’ the man told the judge.
‘It was left in the prison for a week and then we got it the following time, so that means that the inmates had access to the player,’ he went on to say.
‘We don’t open the player all the time and look what’s in it, so the only explanation I have is that the inmates were securing drugs within the player.’
The yoga instructor’s Facebook page said she works at the Yoga And Mindfulness Outreach for the prison
Rossato’s Facebook bio also said she manages The Butterfly Effect Center, an alternative and holistic health service in the Miami area
During her court hearing, the prosecutor acknowledged Rossato did not have any previous arrests in Miami-Dade County.
The yoga instructor’s Facebook page explained that she works at the Yoga And Mindfulness Outreach for the prison.
The program’s Facebook page said it empowers ‘prisoners, at-risk youth and those in-need for Healing Trauma, for Stress Management, for Body/Mind Health and for developing one’s Full Potential.’
Rossato’s Facebook bio also said she manages The Butterfly Effect Center, an alternative and holistic health service in the Miami area.
The yoga teacher was jailed at the Turner Guilford Knight Correctional Center (shown above)