Bedbug found in York County jail lobby at Moss center in 3rd incident in 3 weeks

Bedbugs were found Monday in the lobby of the York County jail, marking the third time in three weeks the insects have been found at the Moss Justice Center.

The jail on Monday housed about 460 inmates. The jail was not found to have any bedbugs, so inmates did not have to be evacuated or moved, said Trent Faris, spokesman for the York County Sheriff’s Office. The sheriff’s office and jail are in one of two buildings that are part of the Moss Justcie Center complex.

The second Moss center building has had two bed bug incidents.

A single chair in the jail’s public reception and waiting area had a bedbug found Monday afternoon, Faris said. A dog that was brought in to inspect the building found a single insect on one chair.

All the chairs were removed and the area is undergoing eradication treatment, Faris said.

‘”There was just one chair affected with a single bug - there was nothing beyond the lobby,” Faris said.

Exterminators inspected the Moss Justice Center public and restricted areas, Faris said. That included the public entrance, detention center lobby, detention visitation area, detention administration and the main lobby reception area and hallways of the sheriff’s office.

No other bedbugs were found, Faris said.

Sheriff’s office officials believe a jail visitor may have brought the insect to the lobby, Faris said.

Officials with the sheriff’s office said that the incident is not believed to be connected to bed bugs found last week and in October in the other building of the Moss Justice Center complex.

The other building, which houses the criminal courts and offices of prosecutors and public defenders and clerks was evacuated Nov. 1 after bedbugs were found in several areas on the first and second floors. Court had to be canceled.

Treatment was done last week through Friday and the courts building re-opened Monday.

“We were open for business today (Monday) and I have not heard of any issues,” said David Hamilton, York County Clerk of Court, Monday night.

Bedbugs were first found in offices in the courts building in mid-October. Those offices were treated afterward, officials said.

County officials said last week that all county buildings will be tested for the insects. No timetable has been given for the testing.

This story was originally published November 6, 2018 at 8:50 AM with the headline "Bedbug found in York County jail lobby at Moss center in 3rd incident in 3 weeks."