Federal employee in Kentucky allegedly mailed paper soaked in synthetic marijuana to inmate
An IRS employee in Kentucky sent documents soaked in drugs to a prison inmate, a federal grand jury has charged.
Contessa M. Qualls, an employee at the IRS office in Covington, and Christian J. Brown, an inmate at a state prison in Ohio, were charged in an indictment returned Thursday with mail fraud, conspiracy to commit mail fraud and possession of drugs.
Qualls also faces a charge of fraudulent use of federal documents.
Qualls took an IRS form and other documents soaked with substances known as K2, or spice, and mailed them from the IRS office to Brown at the Toledo Correctional Institute, the indictment charged.
Brown is in prison on drug charges, Ohio records indicate.
The goal of using IRS mailings to deliver the drugs was to make it appear they were official U.S. government documents so prison officials would let them go through, according to the indictment.
The drugs involved were SDB-Butinaca and MDMB-4en-PINACA.
Both are classified as synthetic cannabinoids and mimic the effects of the THC in marijuana, according to Aegis Labs.
Qualls bought drugs online or from other sources at Brown’s direction and sent the sheets to him to sell in the prison, according to the indictment.
The value of one sheet soaked in the synthetic pot averages more than $2,000 in prison, the indictment said.
Qualls allegedly mailed drugs to Brown at least twice between between October and late December last year.
The mail-fraud charges have a maximum sentence of 20 years in prison.
An IRS spokesman could not confirm immediately whether Qualls still works for the agency.