Man charged with selling pills for junk food in jail

A 35-year-old man who spent months in the Ozaukee County jail awaiting trial on a theft charge is now accused of stockpiling medication he was prescribed but didn’t take to sell it to other inmates in exchange for junk food from the commissary.

Nathan L. Rose of Milwaukee, who is now serving a prison sentence for stealing $1,300 in tools from Home Depot in Grafton, “cheeked” the prescription pills he was given in jail by hiding them in his cheek until he was out of the view of deputies, according to a criminal complaint filed in Ozaukee County Circuit Court earlier this month.

Rose is charged with the second or subsequent offense of possession with intent to deliver non-narcotic drugs, which carries a penalty enhancer because it alleges the offense happened in or near a jail.

The investigation into Rose’s activities behind bars began after authorities were told earlier this year that he had been selling  pills prescribed for him to other inmates for items from the jail commissary.

On Feb. 18, detectives searched Rose’s cell and found a large amount of junk food from the commissary that included M&Ms, Pop Tarts, Honey Buns, ramen noodles and chips. Those items, detectives noted, are much more expensive when purchased from the commissary than if bought at a store.

Detectives compared the items found in Rose’s cell to his commissary order history and determined he could not have purchased all of them.

Also found in Rose’s cell was a garlic powder bottle that contained 110 whole or mostly whole pills, the condition of which varied depending on how long Rose had hidden them in his mouth, as well as pieces of pills and a large amount of orange powder, the complaint states.

The pills contained medication used to treat opioid use disorder and pain, according to the complaint.

When confronted by detectives, Rose initially said he was not taking the pills because they would rot his teeth. Then he said he was taking the medication on his own schedule and later said he was stockpiling it so he could commit suicide by overdose, although a fellow inmate told authorities that Rose had told him that was the excuse he was going to use if he got caught with the medication, the complaint states.

Rose denied selling or trading his pills for commissary items.

Medical records show Rose was prescribed suboxone and was supposed to place two tablets under his tongue and wait 15 minutes for them to dissolve while being observed in the booking area of the jail. According to medication logs, Rose was given two pills every night from Sept. 9, 2024, to Feb. 18, 2025.

Another inmate told authorities that he and others in the jail purchased pills from Rose for food from the commissary. The inmate said Rose told him he planned to smuggle the pills he didn’t sell into prison, where they could be sold for $100 a tablet, according to the complaint.

Prison is where Rose ended up after pleading guilty to one felony count of retail theft on March 11 in connection with the June 11, 2023, theft from Home Depot. Ozaukee County Circuit Judge Sandy Williams sentenced him to 18 months in prison followed by two years of extended supervision and made the sentence consecutive to the 180 days in jail he was sentenced to in Washington County for retail theft.

The crime Rose is currently charged with is punishable by a maximum three years in prison followed by three years of extended supervision, but the prison term can be increased because Rose is charged as a repeat offender, has been previously convicted of a drug crime and is accused of selling drugs in jail.

Rose was convicted in Milwaukee County of retail theft in 2024 and possession with intent to deliver marijuana in 2011, both felonies.