Federal authorities have indicted a Texas man and a Michigan woman for their roles in an alleged scheme to smuggle synthetic drugs into correctional facilities across the country by soaking them into sheets of paper.
Adell Willis, 43, of Lewisville, Texas, and Judy Ly, 30, of Grand Rapids, Michigan, were named in a three-count indictment returned by a federal grand jury this week in the Eastern District of Texas, U.S. Attorney Jay R. Combs announced.
Both individuals face charges of conspiracy to possess with intent to distribute synthetic drugs and conspiracy to possess contraband in prison. Ly faces an additional charge of possession of synthetic drugs with intent to distribute.
According to the indictment, the operation began in March 2023. Prosecutors allege that Willis purchased synthetic opioids, synthetic cannabinoids, synthetic stimulants, and other controlled analogues from China. The shipments were sent to Willis’s residence in Texas and Ly’s residence in Michigan.
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Once the raw materials arrived, Willis and Ly allegedly converted the synthetic drugs into a liquid form and soaked sheets of paper in the mixture. After the paper dried, the saturated sheets were mailed or delivered to inmates housed at various federal and state prisons throughout the United States.
If they are convicted, Willis and Ly each face a maximum sentence of 20 years in federal prison.
The prosecution is a result of Operation Take Back America, which the Department of Justice describes as a nationwide initiative that marshals the full resources of the Department of Justice to repel the invasion of illegal immigration, achieve the total elimination of cartels and transnational criminal organizations (TCOs), and protect our communities from the perpetrators of violent crime.
The ongoing investigation is being conducted jointly by the FBI and the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration. Assistant U.S. Attorney Jim Noble is prosecuting the case.
A federal indictment is an accusation and does not constitute evidence of guilt. Under the U.S. legal system, all defendants are presumed innocent until they are proven guilty beyond a reasonable doubt in a court of law.
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