Authorities: Man died in Tuolumne jail after gulping meth '8 ball'

A Jamestown man who died in custody last month ingested a lethal amount of methamphetamine while being booked at the jail, the Tuolumne County Sheriff's Department announced Monday.

James Jones was arrested by deputies for an outstanding warrant May 3, according to Sgt. Jeff Wilson. While being booked at the Tuolumne County Jail, deputies found Jones was in possession of a glass pipe used for smoking meth.

Deputies ordered Jones to be "strip searched" since he had brought contraband into the facility, Wilson said.

During the search, a jail deputy said he saw a white substance in Jones' mouth. He said he ordered Jones to spit it out, but the man swallowed it.

He was taken to Sonora Regional Medical Center, where he admitted he had swallowed an "8 ball," or 3.5 grams of meth.

Jones progressively showed signs of meth overdose and eventually died despite life-saving measures, Wilson said.

A pathologist at the Stanislaus County coroner's office determined that Jones died of meth toxicity.

The amount of meth in Jones' system was 16 times the "potentially toxic" level, Wilson said.