According to a report by Eyewitness News, former Kanawha County prosecutor Mark Plants, now a defense attorney, recently encountered a disturbing incident involving one of his former clients attempting to bring fentanyl into the South Central Regional Jail. Eyewitness News obtained exclusive video footage of the incident, which took place on March 20 when Plants visited the jail to meet with the client.
Upon arriving at the South Central Regional Jail, Plants removed a folder of papers from his bag, intending to discuss them with his client. However, he quickly realized that something was amiss. In the video from the jail's lobby, Plants can be seen turning over the suspicious papers, which he later discovered had been soaked in fentanyl.
Grateful that he examined the envelope before entering the jail, Plants recalled,
"Thank God that before I went into the jail, out in the lobby, I actually opened up the envelope for the first time and started reading the documents and noticed that they were powdery, they were grainy. It just didn't feel right," he said. "I immediately got a CO, got a corrections officer and said, 'Hey, this doesn't feel right. I didn't print this. There is something going on here,' " he recalled.
The papers, cleverly disguised as West Virginia case law, turned out to be contaminated with fentanyl. Plants revealed that these papers had been delivered to his mailbox several weeks earlier, with the request to deliver them and review the contents with his client. Plants took swift action, informing jail officials via email about the suspicious document, emphasizing that he had requested a "non-contact" visit and had promptly notified the corrections officer as soon as he suspected criminal activity.
Expressing his disappointment and feeling exploited, Plants shared,
"I absolutely feel used and offended. You work hard, you zealously represent your clients, and then they try to pull something over that could possibly get me in trouble," Plants said in an interview with Eyewitness News reporter Leslie Rubin.
Five days following the incident, the Division of Corrections and Rehabilitation (DCR) informed Plants that, due to the severity of the incident, all in-person contact visits with his clients in any state correctional facility or jail would be temporarily suspended. The case was subsequently handed over to the West Virginia State Police, who have yet to release any findings or information related to the investigation. Two Freedom of Information Act requests regarding the investigation have been denied by the West Virginia State Police, citing it as a "pending matter."
Plants maintains his firm belief that he had absolutely no knowledge that the paper had been saturated with the lethal drug.
"One of the reasons why I am doing this interview, and I am glad that this is a topic because criminals are constantly thinking of ways of how to break the law and how to get drugs. This is one of the ways that I was totally unaware of until it happened to me," he said.
West Virginia Department of Homeland Security Cabinet Secretary Jeff Sandy said he couldn't comment on current ongoing investigations specifically. He did say, however, that this was just one example of new drug trafficking trends that were being developed as it has become more challenging over the years to get drugs into the secure facilities.
Original article reference link by LESLIE RUBIN | Tue, July 12th 2022, 5:00 PM CDT
