Pittsburgh man serving life charged with smuggling synthetic drugs into prison as mail

A Lincoln-Lemington man serving life for first-degree murder was indicted by a federal grand jury on charges that he smuggled synthetic drugs into a state prison under the guise of legal mail addressed from the Allegheny County Court of Common Pleas.

Rodney Howard, 36, is currently incarcerated at the State Correctional Institution - Mahanoy in Schuylkill County.

He, along with Dustin Hill, 34, who is at SCI- Benner, and DeAndre Jackson, 28, of Whitehall, were indicted in Pittsburgh on July 20, charged with conspiracy to distribute a controlled substance for their efforts to get 30 sheets of cotton-fiber paper soaked in a synthetic cannabinoid into the state prison at Dallas.

Howard and Jackson are half-brothers.

An unsealed search warrant application in the case spells out the details of the scheme, including directions from Howard to Jackson on how to mail the package, and how to pay off Hill, who was placed in solitary confinement after receiving the illicit mail.

As part of their investigation, agents with the U.S. Postal Inspection Service obtained Jackson’s cell phone, in which they said they found photos of handwritten, undated letters from Howard.

In one letter, Howard explained how to send the “legal mail,” agents said, and directed the recipient to buy cotton-fiber paper and print his preliminary hearing transcripts on it.

“‘My brother will explain how to mail it with the tracker and all that good stuff.’” It later continues: “’Yall don’t got to do nothing but put them in a manila envelope and mail them, they’ll do the rest.”

Howard also wrote that “’I need a lawyer that will send it without questioning the [stuff].’”

According to the search warrant application, investigators believe that Jackson took a criminal docket sheet from another person, whose case was before Judge Jeffrey A. Manning, and altered the name on that document to “Dustin Hill.”

On Jan. 29, a manila envelope with Manning’s court office listed as the return address was mailed to Hill at SCI Dallas.

The package, according to the search warrant application, contained about 30 sheets of cotton fiber paper, which had been soaked in ADB-BUTINACA, a synthetic cannabinoid.

The envelope and documents inside matched images Jackson had emailed to himself, investigators said.

When the package was received at the prison, it was treated as legal mail, and on Feb. 9, corrections officers took the envelope to Hill’s cell and opened it in front of him.

However, officers recognized the paper had been soaked in a controlled substance and took it to the security office.

There, “the two corrections officers who handled the subject envelope became ill with elevated heart rates, high blood pressure, and nausea. One of the officers vomited repeatedly. They were taken to the emergency room by ambulance, were treated, and were later released,” the search warrant application said.

Hill denied knowledge of the contents of the package and was moved to restricted housing, also known as “the hole.”

According to the search warrant application, investigators found another letter from Howard on Jackson’s phone, in which Howard told him that the package he sent was seized.

“’Bro,’” he wrote. “‘Listen, the last joints got sucked up by the [expletive] pigs. It was a [expletive] super cop working on Tuesday morning when he took them to Lil Homie’s cell. He said they didn’t look right so he never gave them to him. He took them and left the block. A couple hours later they come and get Lil Homie take him to the hole. Today is Thursday they still ain’t come [mess] with me so right now he stayin solid.’”

“The letter adds ‘Please don’t get scared nobody has nothing to worry about. Lil Homie never had it so they can’t do [anything] because they didn’t give it to him. Quarterback never gets in trouble because it stops with me. Plus Lil Homie still had his from the last run. I’m moving that right now for him.’”

On another page, marked with an asterisk, Howard wrote: “’Very important: The lil Homie that went to the hole. He staying solid. He not going mention my name. We got to start sending his money to his books. He gets 9 stacks.’ That has to start ASAP but you can’t send it because you on my list.” It then says someone else has ‘to set up a [prisoner] account, somebody that’s not on my list. …[I]t just can’t be linked to me. He got to get paid because he didn’t fold he followed all my instructions.’”

During a phone call on March 5 between Howard and Jackson, Howard told Jackson to help him, saying “he had to ‘keep my word because my name is all I got.’”

Jackson responded that he could set up a different account. About a half hour later, investigators said that a person using Jackson’s email and mailing address created a new account in the Department of Corrections under the name of Kevin Johnson. That account then put $300 onto Hill’s inmate account. That same amount was added again on March 9 and again on March 22.

“Based on his training and experience, the DOC investigator believes that these communications involve Howard directing Jackson to pay Dustin Hill for the receipt of drugs in the mail, for not talking about their drug trafficking conspiracy, and for the inconvenience of Hill being placed in the RHU due to his receipt of Howard’s drugs,” the search warrant application said. “In this context, the DOC investigator believes that Howard referred to keeping his name good to mean that he wanted to preserve his reputation by paying Hill as promised and for keeping quiet on his behalf.”

In a separate indictment, Jackson and Howard, along with Howard’s sister, Rodneka Howard, 27, of North Versailles, are also charged with fraud for their attempt to obtain pandemic unemployment benefits for Howard and two other unidentified inmates in state prison.

Howard was convicted of the Jan. 20, 2014, shooting death of Hosea Davis, 37, in Larimer.