WESTMINSTER -- A woman serving a six-month sentence for theft at the Carroll County Detention Center was treated at a hospital last week after she swallowed what was suspected to be cocaine during a routine strip search, authorities said.

The inmate, Jean E. Ingrassia, 47, had been granted work release Tuesday, jail officials said.

Upon returning from work Thursday evening, Ingrassia was searched for contraband. Deputies reported finding 38 cigarettes wrapped in plastic and hidden in a body cavity.

About the same time, deputies said, Ingrassia swallowed an unidentified object wrapped in foil. As a precaution, she was taken to Carroll County General Hospital to have her stomach pumped.

The foil package was recovered and its contents will be tested to determine if it is cocaine.

The investigation is continuing. Charges are pending and her work-release privileges have been terminated, a jail spokesman said Friday.

Pub Date: 12/19/98