Attorney charged in suspected drug smuggling scheme at Allegheny County Jail

A longtime defense attorney in the region is facing charges stemming from an investigation by authorities into how drug-infused paperwork has been getting into the Allegheny County Jail in recent years.

A grand jury presentment unsealed Thursday identified Paul Gettleman, 74, of Perry Township, Lawrence County, whose legal practice is based in Portersville, as one of the people involved in the drug delivery network. It was described as a complex conspiracy among inmates, their families and friends and Gettleman to smuggle paper into the jail that was infused with synthetic cannabinoids, commonly called K2 or deuce. It was sold to inmates who then smoked it.

Gettleman declined to comment Friday, shortly before he was charged with felonies including providing contraband, conspiracy and drug delivery.

Authorities became suspicious about Gettleman on Aug. 28, 2018, when he skirted the jail’s standard security procedures. He entered through an exit while carrying a green folder during a visit with inmate Jermaine Dehonney that lasted less than 90 seconds, according to the grand jury presentment.

A jail guard reported the incident. Dehonney and his cell were searched. The green folder was found, along with a piece of paper with a Supreme Court opinion printed on it. Tests done by the Allegheny County Medical Examiner’s Office found the papers contained a synthetic cannabinoid, according to the presentment.

The grand jury obtained recordings of telephone conversations made by Dehonney and other inmates to friends and family outside of jail. The grand jury found evidence of the conspiracy to smuggle the drug-infused paper into the jail.

On the recommendation of the grand jury, these people also were charged in the case:

• Dehonney, 24, on charges of contraband, criminal use of a phone, drug delivery and conspiracy
• Tyerra Taylor, 20, of West Mifflin, on charges of conspiracy
• Tabitha Johnson, 44, of Penn Hills, on charges of conspiracy
• Cheron Shelton, 32, a jail inmate awaiting trial on homicide charges after a March 9, 2016, mass shooting in Wilkinsburg, on charges of conspiracy and criminal use of a phone
• Brittney Shelton, 28, of Wilkinsburg — Cheron’s sister — on charges of conspiracy

Inmates at the jail would contact friends and family to arrange to get the drug-laced paper to Gettleman, who would take it to the jail, according to the presentment.

The paper itself cost about $150 per page to procure, an unnamed inmate said, and Gettleman’s fee was between $500 and $1,000 per visit, according to the grand jury presentment. The transactions among inmates, people on the outside and Gettleman were made using digital applications.

A supplementary report released Friday by the grand jury called using attorneys to smuggle contraband into the jail “perhaps the most troubling” of the schemes used to get drugs into the jail.

It also noted the largely unknown dangers of synthetic cannabinoids, which can provoke violent actions and paranoia — something evidenced by a doubling of violent incidents in the jail between 2017 and 2018.

There were 39 jail employees who required medical treatment because of exposure to K2, according to the report.

The jail has modified and enacted new policies to stem the flow of drugs into the jail and the paper that can be taken in. The exception, which was used in this case, involves attorneys meeting with their clients who are incarcerated.

“We are well aware that attorneys and their clients need the ability to communicate free and clear of government intrusion,” the grand jury report said.

There were four other incidents involving attorneys bringing in drug-laced paper, but in these cases the attorneys weren’t aware they were doing so, according to the report.

The grand jury is recommending a new policy at the jail requiring lawyers to acknowledge they will not pass along third-party paperwork to their clients, and if they are caught doing so they will be barred from the jail.

The grand jury is recommending the jail implement a system in which attorneys could send legal documents to their jailed clients electronically. The system would be secure and unavailable to the jail administration.

Allegheny County Jail Warden Orlando Harper said in a statement that jail staff take the contraband problem seriously and are continually working to address issues as they are identified.

“We constantly review and make changes, as appropriate, so that we can improve our controls at the facility – and will continue that process,” Harper said. “Our thanks to the Allegheny County Police Department for working quickly on this case against those allegedly involved in abusing those processes.”