HARRIS COUNTY, Texas — A defense attorney and two others were arrested and charged after allegedly smuggling drugs to an inmate, according to Harris County Sheriff Ed Gonzalez.
Defense attorney Hunter Simmons, 39, along with Tanisha Butler, 40, and Joshua Piper, 22, were charged with engaging in organized criminal activity and providing a prohibited substance in a correctional facility.
This is the third time in recent months that an attorney has been arrested for smuggling drugs through the jail.
The HCSO Human Trafficking Unit initiated an investigation into suspected drug smuggling activities within the jail stemming from an unrelated human trafficking investigation.
After gathering evidence, investigators identified Simmons as a possible accomplice. Simmons was suspected of delivering drugs to his client -- who was an inmate.
Last week during the investigation, several sheets of paper laced with synthetic marijuana were recovered.
Investigators said Piper would assist the operation by delivering the drugs from the manufacturer to Simmons.
Simmons and Butler were in court Wednesday night. A judge said they have documents over 10 pages long and it details a phone call on how this occurred.
“Spoke to the jail by means of having legal documents or some type of documents go into the jail that were laced or dipped in some type of controlled substance and that occurred and officers were able to recover those items," the judge said.
Their bonds were set at $75,000 each. Piper was in court later Wednesday night. His bond was set at $50,000.
All three are due back in court on Thursday morning,
If convicted, they each face two to 20 years in prison. The investigation is ongoing and additional charges are possible.
In a post on X, Gonzalez said, "We announced efforts to create a safer facility for all and those efforts are making a positive difference. Great work by our Criminal Investigations and Security Division, Human Trafficking team and Warrants Division."
Other cases involving drugs smuggled into jail
In August, another Houston attorney, Jason Terrel Johnson, 42, was charged with organized crime, providing a prohibited substance in a corrections facility and witness tampering.
He’s accused of smuggling synthetic marijuana to a client during a court hearing earlier this month with the help of the client's fiancé.
Last November, 77-year-old Ronald Lewis was charged with providing drugs to inmates.
Former jailer Robert Robertson, 24, was also arrested last November on organized crime charges. The sheriff said Robertson smuggled papers laced with marijuana and K-2 synthetic marijuana into the jail and sold them for up to $1,500.
In July, a murder suspect in the Harris County Jail was charged with money laundering the profits he made from selling drugs to other inmates, according to Harris County District Attorney Kim Ogg.
Joshua Sinclair Owens, 35, was jailed on a murder charge and five other felonies.
Ogg said Owens sold drug-laced papers to other inmates and then had family members transfer the money from his CashApp account to his commissary account.
"Almost $30,000 went through this inmate's account since he's been in jail," Ogg said in a news conference.
Clarification: In an earlier version of this story, we incorrectly described allegations made by police concerning telephone conversations with an inmate to allegedly arrange the transaction. Attorney Jason Johnson is accused only of delivering drugs to an inmate in connection with the incident. We have removed the portion of this story that described the phone conversations.
