Texas attorney accused of smuggling drug-laced papers to inmates in county jail
HOUSTON– A Texas lawyer has been accused of using work-related visits to a prison in recent months to smuggle legal paperwork laced with ecstasy and synthetic marijuana to inmates, authorities announced Monday.
Ronald Lewis, 77, was arrested Friday after arriving at the Harris County Jail in Houston to visit an inmate, Harris County Sheriff Ed Gonzalez said at a news conference.
During his arrest, Lewis had 11 sheets of paper that authorities said were suspected to be laced with narcotics.
Lewis has been charged with two counts of introducing a controlled substance into a correctional facility. He is free after posting bonds totaling $15,000. An attorney for Lewis did not immediately return a call seeking comment Monday. Records with the State Bar of Texas show that Lewis has been a licensed attorney since 1982.
His arrest came after a months-long investigation into the jail by the Criminal Investigations and Security Division, a new unit created earlier this year to investigate an increase in drug overdoses at what is Texas’ largest county jail, Gonzalez said.
In June, after the deaths of two inmates that were believed to be drug-related, the new unit began investigating information that illegal narcotics were being smuggled into the jail in paperwork that had been sprayed or dipped with a chemical compound, said Lt. Jay Wheeler of the sheriff’s office.
Investigators received tips that led them to Lewis.
Authorities allege that from July through this month, Lewis visited 14 inmates at the jail and provided them with drug-tainted papers disguised as legal mail or other legal documents, Wheeler said.
Lewis was paid between $250 and $500 per transaction to smuggle in the papers, authorities said.
About 154 sheets of paper believed to be laced with narcotics were seized during the investigation, Wheeler said.
“We are currently working with the Texas Rangers to determine if the narcotics introduced into the prison by Mr. Lewis contributed to the death of an inmate,” Wheeler said.
Other lawyers are also suspected of smuggling drug paraphernalia into prisons, but “we don’t think this is actually widespread,” Gonzalez said.
“There are great attorneys who uphold their oath and work very hard to take care of their clients and make sure they represent them effectively,” Gonzalez said. “There will always be people who choose illegal ways to do things… and if so, it doesn’t matter who they are. We are going to make sure we fully investigate and hold them accountable.”
Gonzalez said the county jail, like other jails across the country, has seen an increase in overdoses. At least 18 deaths have occurred at the provincial jail this year, some of them believed to be drug-related.
To limit the flow of illegal drugs into the jail, the sheriff’s office is turning to a new system that will digitize inmate documents, including legal paperwork and letters.
“We continue to raise the bar and do everything we can to ensure that we maintain a safe facility, as safe as possible,” Gonzalez said.
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