Marion Attorney Accused of Drug Trafficking

A defense attorney from the Southern Illinois town of Marion is facing criminal charges for allegedly attempting to traffic heroin-filled condoms into a federal prison in Indiana.

Robert Drew was taken into custody over the weekend at a Terre Haute jail, but was then admitted to a nearby hospital. Drew's wife, Joyce, said her husband was suffering from health problems connected to his diabetes.

He is listed in good condition, but would not return a call for comment.

A search of Drew's black Mercedes turned up marijuana, as well as the condoms with heroin, according to an affidavit written by FBI agent Jacob Overton.

Drew claimed the marijuana was for his own use, but he said he did not know what was in the condoms. However, he admitted that whatever they contained was prohibited in the prison, Overton wrote.

Overton reported Drew said he had delivered drugs to an inmate three to four times during the past year in private conference rooms inside the lockup. Lawyers gets more access and privacy to the conference room where they can talk to inmates, often with a guard standing outside the room. Those conversations are not tape recorded or listened in on by prison staff, according to Bureau of Prisons spokeswoman Traci Billingsley.

Joyce Drew said leading up to her husband's arrest; her husband received multiple threatening phone calls from someone who claimed that his grandkids would be harmed if he did not transport the drugs into the prison.

"If he committed that act on his own, then you know I am totally against that," she said. "If his story, which I believe, is true, then people should stop being so harsh to him."

Joyce said she does know who made the threatening phone calls and how her husband acquired the drugs. She also said she never spoke to the person making the threats.

U.S. Attorney Tim Morrison of Indiana's Southern District said Drew tried to get the heroin to "at least one" inmate at the prison.

Morrison said the long-time defense attorney is expected to make a court appearance shortly after he is released from the hospital. The government then has 30 days to indict.

The Bureau of Prisons' Traci Billingsley said known cases involving lawyers sneaking drugs into prisons are rare, and adds that all visitors to federal prisons are required to be scanned by a metal detector when entering.

Drew faces a maximum penalty of 10 years in prison and a $250,000 fine.