BEDFORD – A Mitchell man is facing a charge of trafficking after he attempted to smuggle meth into the Lawrence County Jail.
Police arrested 45-year-old Joshua Mills on a charge of trafficking contraband to an inmate.
According to a probable cause affidavit, on January 26, 2023, Lawrence County Security Center Sgt. Jon Cocran and Cpl. Hunter Johnson requested Capt. Andrew Phillips and his canine partner Scout to jail after they found a medical sock for an amputee suspected had been tampered with. The top hem appeared to have a foreign substance sewn into it.
Sgt. Cochran and Cpl. Hunter partially opened the hem of the sock and located a white powdery
substance in small baggies. One of the bags had partially broken open. The sock hem also contained what appeared to be tobacco.
The sock and substances were placed in the entryway of the Police Department in a cardboard box.
Canine Scout was commanded to search for narcotics and it alerted on the cardboard box where the sock with the substances was placed.
Capt. Phillips opened the sock hem and located four small baggies containing 2.32 grams of meth, and a black foil wrapper containing a brown and orange granular substance that was possibly Suboxone. There was also 5.89 grams of tobacco.
The tailer stitched through the packaging of the meth and tobacco while altering the hem of the sock.
Officers learned the sock was to be delivered to Jerold Leather, an inmate at the jail who is an amputee.
Another inmate stated he overheard Joshua Mills, Jeremy Gulley, and Jerold Leatherman conspiring to have someone bring the medical sock in for Jerald with contraband sewn inside. The plan also included having Joshua’s girlfriend, Kayla McIntosh, go to Engleking Pharmacy to pick up Leatherwood’s Suboxone prescription.
A review of the video camera footage at the Lawrence County Police Department and the Security Center
showed a silver-colored Chevrolet Cavalier parked in front of the Sheriff’s Department on the
evening of January 24, 2023, around 5:30 p.m. A person later identified as Christopher Agan exited the passenger side of the vehicle. He is later seen in the video exiting the car and then entering the lobby area of the Security Center. Agan gives a corrections officer the sock, walks back out the door, and returns to the vehicle’s passenger side. The car then pulls away, traveling north on I Street.
The vehicle belonged to Mills’ girlfriend 31-year-old Kayla McIntosh. A search of traffic cameras revealed that the vehicle registered to the female appeared to be the same description as the vehicle, with Agan dropping off the sock for Leatherman.
A review of Lawrence County Security Center phone calls revealed conversations between Kayla and Joshua Mills leading up to and during the time the sock was dropped off.
Below is just a brief description of part of the phone calls.
Jan. 24, 2023 at 5:02 p.m.
Kayla: I don’t really want to do it.
Joshua: Bring it up; you will be fine.
Joshua: Get Chris Agan; he will do it
Jan. 24, 2023 at 5:11 p.m.
Joshua: Did you get him?
Kayla: I got him.
Joshua: Tell Chris Agan when he walks up.
Jan. 24, 2023 at 5:31 p.m.
Joshua: You told them for Jerald Leatherman?
Kayla: He is in there now.
On January 26, 2023, at 9:34 a.m. Sheriff Greg Day and Capt. Phillips went to 46 Russell Drive, in Mitchell, to speak with Kayla McIntosh. She stepped out of the camper and was detained.
During the interview, McIntosh told police she got the sock from someone she did not know at a possible
abandoned residence. She said the items in the sock had already been sewn when she picked it up. She admitted committing the crime for her boyfriend Joshua Mills.
She admitted to being afraid of taking the sock into the Security Center, so she asked another person, Christopher Agan, to take the sock in. She admitted to driving Agen to the Security Center to drop the sock off. Sheriff Day stated, “You took illegal drugs to the jail; that’s a felony”. She replied, “I know; I wish I wouldn’t have. I’m stupid.”
Sheriff Day asked for consent to search her camper. He advised her she did not have to let him, that she could require him to get a search warrant, and that she had a right to an attorney before giving consent. She then started naming names of people who have been in the camper and stated that the door does not lock.
McIntosh then admitted if there was anything in the camper it would be under the bed.
Sheriff Day located 3.62 grams of meth, 0.48 grams of crushed Suboxone, and a glass smoking device.
McIntosh admitted the sock contained tobacco and meth and added “I didn’t want no part of it.” She then claimed she didn’t know what was sewn in the sock. Ultimately McIntosh stated, she did not want to talk anymore and requested an attorney.
McIntosh was detained on charges of conspiracy to commit trafficking with an inmate, dealing meth, dealing a narcotic drug, two counts of possession of meth, two counts of possession of a narcotic drug, and a misdemeanor charge of possession of drug paraphernalia.
On January 26, 2023, at 12:17 p.m. Sheriff Day and Capt. Phillips met with Jerold Leatherman about the drugs smuggled into the jail. He denied knowing anything about the drugs sewn inside the sock.
On January 27, 2023, at 12:11 p.m. Sheriff Day and Capt. Phillips went to 409 West Warren Street in Mitchell to speak to Christopher Agen. He admitted he did drop the sock off after Kayla McIntosh asked him to. He denied knowing anything was sewn into the sock. He said when he returned to the call McIntosh was on the phone with Joshua Mills telling him the sock had been delivered.
On January 30, 2023, at 12:22 p.m. officers spoke to Jerold Leatherman about him having McIntosh pick up his prescription for 180 Gabapention pills. He said Joshua Mills told him that McIntosh could sell the pills for $3 each and then put the $570 from selling the pills and place $270 in his commissary account and she could keep the rest of the money. He then told the officer McIntosh never picked up the prescription. He continued to deny knowing anything about the drugs sewn into the sock.
The found sock was apparently one of three altered socks that had been delivered to the jail.
On January 30, 2023, at 12:22 p.m. officers met with Joshua Mills. He explained Jerold had talked to him about getting socks brought to the Security Center for his amputated leg. But denied anything was put in the socks. He then admitted that Leatherman had asked that the tobacco and meth be placed into the sock. He told police this happened just once. He claimed he was not with Leatherman when the contraband was removed from the sock.
On January 31, 2023, officers attempted to interview Jeremy Gulley. He refused to speak to police.
Officers then found two text messages between Joshua Mills and Kayla McIntosh.
11:05 a.m.
Inmate Name: Joshua Mills
Customer: Kayla McIntosh Message:
Message Content: “hey beak (Jerold Leatherman) rolled on us told them everything”.
11:29 a.m.
Inmate Name: Joshua Mills
Customer: Kayla McIntosh Message:
Message Content: “hey babe I love u very much and I’m sorry for u getting in trouble, beak snitched all of us out”.
The information was forwarded to the Lawrence County Prosecutor’s Office and a warrant was issued for Joshua Mills’ arrest.
