John Jefferson
Background: Duval County Jail in Jacksonville, Fla. (Google Maps). Inset: Nathan Williams (Jacksonville Sheriff’s Office).
A Florida defense attorney was arrested in connection to a monthslong investigation into how illegal drugs were finding their way in to the county jail.
Nathan Williams, 37, was arrested on Jan. 5 and charged with eight felonies including two counts of giving drugs or controlled substances to an inmate. According to the Jacksonville Sheriff’s Office in a press conference held on Jan. 7, Williams allegedly conspired with inmates at the Duval County Jail and their family members to smuggle in “drug-soaked” paperwork that he claimed were legal documents.
During the press conference, Undersheriff Shawn Coarsey said that Operation Stamp Collection was a long-term investigation into the flow of illegal drugs to inmates at the Duval County Jail in Jacksonville. The investigation was prompted by a spike in overdoses among the inmate population. Williams, a local criminal defense attorney, was one of 21 arrests made in connection to the investigation, which began in February 2024.
Coarsey stated that the arrests were not part of a larger conspiracy, but that they were 21 individual arrests.
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Coarsey stated that Williams allegedly coordinated with inmates and members of their families to smuggle paperwork — “purported legal paperwork” — that was laced with ADB-PINACA, a synthetic form of marijuana that is a Schedule I controlled substance. He explained that sheets of paper are soaked in a liquid form of the drug, also known as “K2” and “paper dope,” and then “can be abused by the inmates.”
The investigation revealed that Williams allegedly delivered these “drug-soaked sheets of paper” to the jail in exchange for money. Coarsey said that the investigation is ongoing and more arrests are expected.
Williams, who does not have a criminal history and is also a member of the National Guard, was also charged with two counts of giving or receiving communication from an inmate, two counts of conspiracy to introduce controlled substances into the jail, and two counts of unlawful use of a two-way communication device.
He posted bond and was released on Jan. 7. His next court date is Jan. 28.
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