Background: Duval County Jail in Jacksonville, Fla. (Google Maps). Inset: Nathan Williams (Jacksonville Sheriff’s Office).
A Florida defense attorney has been taken into custody in relation to a lengthy investigation into the illicit entry of drugs into the county jail.
Nathan Williams, aged 37, was apprehended on January 5 and slapped with eight felony charges, which included two allegations of providing drugs or controlled substances to an inmate. The Jacksonville Sheriff’s Office divulged in a press briefing on January 7 that Williams purportedly colluded with inmates at the Duval County Jail as well as their relatives to sneak in paperwork that was saturated with drugs, under the guise of being legal documentation.
Undersheriff Shawn Coarsey, at the press conference, divulged that Operation Stamp Collection was an extensive probe into the channeling of illegal drugs to inmates at the Jacksonville-based Duval County Jail. The inquiry was instigated by a surge in drug overdoses within the inmate populace. Williams, a local criminal defense lawyer, was among the 21 individuals arrested in relation to the investigation that commenced in February 2024.
Coarsey stated that the arrests were not part of a larger conspiracy, but that they were 21 individual arrests.
More from Law&Crime: Attorney caught smuggling drug-soaked papers disguised as legal docs into prison at 4:20, came up with Staples story but had no receipt: Feds
Coarsey stated that Williams allegedly coordinated with inmates and members of their families to smuggle paperwork — “purported legal paperwork” — that was laced with ADB-PINACA, a synthetic form of marijuana that is a Schedule I controlled substance. He explained that sheets of paper are soaked in a liquid form of the drug, also known as “K2” and “paper dope,” and then “can be abused by the inmates.”
The investigation revealed that Williams allegedly delivered these “drug-soaked sheets of paper” to the jail in exchange for money. Coarsey said that the investigation is ongoing and more arrests are expected.
Williams, who does not have a criminal history and is also a member of the National Guard, was also charged with two counts of giving or receiving communication from an inmate, two counts of conspiracy to introduce controlled substances into the jail, and two counts of unlawful use of a two-way communication device.
He posted bond and was released on Jan. 7. His next court date is Jan. 28.
