Principals in alleged drug smuggling at Westmoreland County Prison ordered to trial
When investigators listened in on inmates’ telephone calls during an 18-month probe into alleged drug smuggling at the Westmoreland County Prison, they often heard inmates referring to “spicy chicken,” “deuce” or “papers.”
But the conversations weren’t referring to food, card games or legal paperwork. It was code that a delivery of synthetic marijuana would be coming to the Hempfield lockup, a county detective and prison lieutenant testified Wednesday.
“They would usually make the orders for delivery in telephone calls with their girlfriends,” county prison Lt. Brad Tomasello said during the preliminary hearing for two alleged ringleaders in the smuggling operation — Dameon J. Hill, 31, of Pittsburgh’s Garfield section, and Maurice Williams, 25, of Jeannette.
After listening to two hours of testimony from Tomasello and county Detective James Williams, Hempfield District Judge Mark Mansour ordered Hill and Williams to stand trial on multiple criminal counts, including participating in a corrupt organization, criminal conspiracy, criminal use of a communication facility and possession of a controlled substance.
Fifteen people were charged as a result of the probe including Hill’s girlfriend — Whitney J. Sumpter, 32, of Rankin — and Maurice Williams’ girlfriend — Takeya Woods, 25, of Johnstown. Sumpter’s preliminary hearing was continued Tuesday, while Woods waived her right to a hearing last month.
Under questioning from assistant district attorney Adam Barr, Tomasello told Mansour that a sheet of notebook paper detailing the smuggling operation was mistakenly left behind by an inmate taking a GED class at the prison in November 2018. This sparked the investigation.
Tomasello said the prison started giving inmates photocopies instead of actual mail in June 2018 because of concerns they might contain K2, synthetic marijuana. But during the probe, Tomasello said investigators monitoring prisoners’ telephone calls learned the contraband was subsequently being delivered to inmates under the guise of “personal, court-related mail from attorneys,” which prison officials are prohibited from opening.
Tomasello said so many deliveries of legal documents appeared to be coming to inmates from one Pittsburgh attorney that “Detective Williams called the attorney and she told him that she had no clients in the Westmoreland County Prison.”
Barr said the stationary used in the scheme is believed to have been forged.
Tomasello and Detective Williams testified Hill and Sumter would often argue over money during their telephone conversations. “(Hill) would often tell Sumter to make sure the money was delivered first before sending the pages. And he would say something to her, like seven for nine, which we learned meant $700 for nine pages of documents laced with K-2,” Tomasello said.
Detective Williams testified he learned through an informant in July of last year that Hill and Maurice Williams both had hearings at the courthouse in Greensburg and their girlfriends were expected to deliver “five pages” of contraband to each of them in manila envelopes.
Undercover officers attending the hearings saw the women in the courthouse carrying envelopes that were passed to Hill and Maurice Williams, Detective Williams said. The paperwork was seized and analyzed by the state police crime lab.
The documents contained synthetic marijuana, Detective Williams told Mansour.
“And Mr. Hill’s and Mr. Williams’ fingerprints were all over those documents,” Detective Williams added.
Both Hill and Maurice Williams pleaded not guilty to the charges. They were sent back to the county prison, where they each are being held on $100,000 bond.
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