Attorney took cocaine, ecstasy, pills and phones into Columbus jail, investigator says
Cocaine, ecstasy, hydrocodone, iPhones, tobacco and cigarette rolling papers.
Those were among the items local defense attorney Allen C. Jones smuggled to a murder suspect being held in the Muscogee County Jail, a sheriff’s investigator testified Friday in Muscogee Municipal Court.
Jones, 51, appeared via teleconference before Judge Steven Smith for a bond hearing following his arrest Thursday on 10 felony counts related to taking contraband into the jail.
Questioned in court by District Attorney Stacey Jackson, Investigator Michael O’Keefe said Jones was observed from the time he left his car in the jail parking lot Wednesday to meet for six minutes with the inmate in an interview room until his departure. Authorities then strip-searched the inmate, finding five envelopes Jones had delivered, he said.
Inside the envelopes, investigators found 18.7 grams of what they initially thought was methamphetamine, but turned out to be cocaine, O’Keefe said. They also discovered 10 tablets of ecstasy, three hydrocodone pills and seven strips of paper soaked with a substance believed to be a drug, but yet to be identified, he said.
They also found five new iPhones in their original plastic packaging, plus the tobacco and rolling papers, he said. They got warrants for Jones and arrested him in Columbus on Thursday, O’Keefe said.
O’Keefe said the inmate Jones met was not his client, which aroused suspicion. Neither O’Keefe nor Jackson would identify the inmate, though the district attorney said after court that he is a murder suspect. O’Keefe said his name is being withheld to ensure his safety inside the jail.
Jones admitted taking the contraband into the jail when he was arrested, O’Keefe testified.
Judge sets bonds
Finding the evidence sufficient to send Jones’ case to Muscogee Superior Court, Judge Smith set bonds totaling $107,000 on these charges:
$20,000 for possessing ecstasy with the intent to distribute it
$20,000 for possessing cocaine with the intent to distribute it
$25,000 for crossing jail guard lines with unauthorized drugs
$6,000 each on seven counts of taking prohibited items into the jail
Sheriff Greg Countryman, whose office operates the jail, said at a news conference Thursday that the envelopes Jones brought in were marked for delivery to specific inmates, and that cell phones in particular were in high demand: “Cell phones will sell for about $2,000 in the jail,” he said.
O’Keefe said a single, thin tobacco cigarette can be worth $50, and the strips of paper thought to be saturated with a drug could fetch as much as $7,000 each.
Neither he nor Jackson would say whether others were involved in the alleged smuggling, only that the investigation continues.
How Jones’ arrest could affect the clients he represents remained unclear Friday. While based in Phenix City, Alabama, he is licensed in both Alabama and Georgia.
Jackson said Jones may be allowed to continue practicing law until either the state bars of Alabama or Georgia moves to suspend his license.
Rick Chancey, the Russell County, Alabama, district attorney, said Jones’ cases there won’t proceed to trial until his status is clear.
Jones has been representing Damon Daniels Jr., who’s charged with capital murder in a double homicide last year on the Phenix City Riverwalk. Daniels is accused of gunning down Darrelyn “Darren” Harris and John Arthur Burkus on Dec. 3.
Chancey said Daniels is set for arraignment on April 26. The suspect has a second attorney, Joshua Fleitas, so that hearing won’t be affected, he said.
