Group that snuck drug-saturated letters into Colorado jail sentenced
Eleven people who delivered fentanyl and methamphetamine into the Larimer County Jail via inmate mail have been sentenced.
The eight men and three women were ordered to serve between two months and 12 years behind bars.
The last person to be sentenced, 31-year-old Alexa Ann Coria, received a four-year term in the Colorado Department of Corrections on April 14th.
The investigation began when the surface of one inmate's letter tested positive for meth, according to the Larimer County Sheriff's Office. Jail staff then detected an increase in communications between inmates apparently using coded language.
Investigators discovered paper soaked in narcotics, ink on the paper infused with narcotics, and narcotics hidden in the seams of commercially available envelopes, authorities stated in a joint press release.
The cell's of several inmates were then searched, and a home just ouside Loveland, too. Evidence of the drug trafficking operation was found at both locations. Larimer County announced the arrests of 12 people in May 2022.
A month after his arrest, Shawn Adolf Chapman pleaded guilty to money laundering. He received the longest sentence of 12 years.
Josh Edwards Puls pleaded guilty a year later to felony drug possession and received a six-year sentence.
Kathy Ann Rains-Wilson admitted guilt to the same charge and was given the same sentence.
Another person received one year for the felony drug charge.
Several two-year prison terms were handed out to smaller players, and one person was given 60 days in jail and two years of probation.
The case against one man was apparently dropped and sealed from public record.
Another of the men involved, Stephen Darwin McNeil, had the case against him dismissed after he was sentenced to 40 years in a murder case.
Almost a year after the Larimer operation was busted, Weld County spoke of its own version. A 27-year-old female inmate there was arrested on several felonies. Weld investigators determined the woman planned to distribute drug-soaked paper once she was transferred to a state prison. She had received the papers through the Weld jail's mail system, the Weld County Sheriff's Office stated.
The resolution of that woman's court case is also sealed from public view.
At the time of her arrest, the Weld jail commander called the delivery of drugs through inmate mail "a trend jail staff have seen across the state."
"[I]nmates eat or suck on paper to get high," Captain Matt Turner stated in a press release.
No other law agencies, however, have stepped forward to describe such incidents.
To prevent further drug trafficking, Weld County's jail now processes all personal mail through a third-party vendor at an offsite location. That third party opens the mail, electronically scans the contents, and sends the scanned images to an account for the offender that they can access via a tablet provided to them at the jail. This prevents an inmate from coming into physical contact with the mail.
