Charge: DuPage jail inmate made shanks from toothbrushes

Prosecutors say DuPage County sheriff’s deputies found a pair of shanks made from toothbrushes stuffed in the bunk of a jail inmate.

Michael G. Kiery, 21, of Berkeley, appeared in bond court Monday on a charge of unlawful possession of contraband in a penal institution.

Kiery was charged Sunday after sheriff’s deputies searched his cell, uncovering in his bunk two makeshift plastic knives fitted with cloth handles, Assistant State’s Attorney Shanti Kulkarni said. The shanks had been carved out of toothbrushes, he said.

“They were sharp enough to cause injury,” Kulkarni told Judge Elizabeth Sexton, who set bail at $100,000.

Shanks may be staples of Hollywood crime stories, but sheriff’s spokeswoman Dawn Domrose said they’re rare in the county jail.

In the commissary, she said, jail inmates can buy toothbrushes with shortened handles, which could make them more difficult to turn into weapons.

She said Sheriff John Zaruba couldn’t recall any instances where a shank was used in an attack, but any threat is taken seriously.

“Very rarely do we have problems with shanks,” she said. “It doesn’t happen very often.”

Kiery, formerly of Elmhurst, has been jailed in Wheaton since he was charged March 23 with a residential burglary on the 500 block of South Ardmore Avenue in Villa Park.

In December 2010, he pleaded guilty to felony drug possession in a case where he was also accused of hollowing out an ink pen to use to inject heroin, court records state. He served about a month in jail.

Kiery, who said he works for an Elmhurst tuckpointing firm, was being held on $150,000 bail when he picked up the contraband charge. He would have to post $25,000 total to be released.

Kiery is scheduled to appear in court April 12 in the contraband case and April 14 in the burglary case.