Houston defense attorney and 2 others charged in jail drug smuggling operation

ByJessica Willey and Chaz Miller

Thursday, November 14, 2024 2:52PM

Defense attorney, 2 others charged in jail drug smuggling operation

Investigators said the attorney got the drug-laced papers from the two other people charged and then got them into the jail via his client, who recently pleaded guilty to murder.

HOUSTON, Texas (KTRK) -- A Houston defense attorney and two other people were arrested on Wednesday on charges they participated in a scheme to smuggle drug-laced papers into the Harris County jail.

Hunter Hays Simmons, 39, was arrested at his downtown Houston apartment around 7:30 a.m. State records show he has been a licensed attorney since 2013.

Tanisha D. Butler, 40, and Joshua J. Piper, 22, were also arrested Wednesday, according to the Harris County Sheriff's Office. All three are charged with engaging in organized criminal activity and prohibited substances in a correctional facility, crimes punishable by two to 20 years in prison.

Wednesday night, Simmons and Butler made their first court appearances. A hearing officer set bond at a total of $75,000 for both defendants -- $40,000 for the engaging in organized criminal activity charge and $35,000 for the prohibited substance charge.

Piper later appeared in court on Thursday morning, where a judge set his bond at $100,000 total -- $50,000 for each charge.

Investigators believe Butler and Piper delivered the drugs to Simmons, who then smuggled them -- in the form of papers laced with synthetic marijuana -- into the jail during visits with his client, Joseph Dunn. Dunn recently pleaded guilty to murder and was sentenced to 26 years in prison.

It was revealed in court that investigators listened to recorded jailhouse phone calls to bust the alleged scheme.

"The majority of phone calls that occur with inmates are recorded, and there's no privacy rights unless it's a privileged communication, like with a lawyer, but that has to be done a certain way. So there were numerous phone calls going back and forth between various people," a hearing officer read in court.

Last week, several sheets of paper were recovered, according to the sheriff's office.

Simmons was identified as an accomplice in a possible drug-smuggling operation stemming from an unrelated human trafficking investigation, the sheriff's office said. His alleged criminal activities date back to February, court records show.

Simmons is not the first defense attorney to face similar charges. In November 2023, Ronald Lewis, 78, was charged with two counts of prohibited substance in a correctional facility after he was caught on surveillance camera smuggling in drug-laced papers, the sheriff's office said. In August, Jason Johnson, 42, was also charged after a separate investigation.

The arrests come after Sheriff Ed Gonzalez created the Criminal Investigations and Security Division in 2023 to crack down on drug and contraband smuggling following several deadly overdoses in the jail.

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