Warrant reveals calls in alleged $30K Harris Co. jail drug ring: 'I'm busting my a-- over here'

Friday, July 26, 2024
HARRIS COUNTY, Texas (KTRK) -- Two family members accused of helping facilitate drug sales inside the Harris County jail are out on bond.

Lativia Armiss Bailey, 31, and Nathanael Campbell, 42, are both charged with engaging in organized criminal activity and face up to life in prison.

Investigators accuse them of laundering money through CashApp for their family member Joshua Sinclair Owens, 35.

Owens is currently in the Harris County jail on several violent charges, including murder. He is now also charged with engaging in organized criminal activity.

During a news conference on Tuesday, Kimberly Smith, a prosecutor with the Harris County District Attorney's Office, said that Owens was selling sheets of paper soaked in synthetic marijuana inside the jail. She said the payments were sent to his stepsister Bailey and cousin Campbell through CashApp.

PREVIOUS STORY: Harris County inmate with almost $30K in commissary account accused of selling drugs in jail: Docs

From there, Smith said Bailey and Campbell would transfer the proceeds to Owens' commissary account in the jail.



She said his account grew from roughly $200 in October 2023 to almost $30,000 in June 2024.

According to a search warrant, Harris County Sheriff's Office investigators started listening to Owens' jail calls from the beginning of February.

Based on calls transcribed in the search warrant, Owens never explicitly mentioned drugs but spoke openly about transfers of money to CashApp and his commissary account.



In one call with Campbell in late February, Campbell said, "How this man locked up making money - more money than me?"

According to the search warrant, Owens responded, "Yeah, man, I have two or three different people sending CashApp right now, man. I'm busting my a-- over here."

Owens and Campbell discuss Bailey's CashApp account being frozen in at least one call. They presume it is because of the large amount of cash sitting in the account.

From there, Owens and his "favorite cousin," whom he referred to at one point, discuss moving the money into his commissary so the balance in CashApp stays down.

"Every time I get to $400 or $500, you just keep you $100 off the rip, bro, because you are working this. You are managing this s--- for me, you know what I'm saying?" the search warrant reads.



The search warrant lists at least three other inmates who were somehow involved with Owens. According to court records, none of them are charged.

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