Elderly man mails drugs to 25-year-old inmate girlfriend

Police arrested an elderly man for smuggling narcotics hidden beneath postage labels to his 25-year-old girlfriend, an inmate at Chester County Prison in West Chester, Pa.

Dennis Leffew, 70, of Elkton, Md., is charged with conspiracy and delivering contraband to an inmate for allegedly sending strips of the Schedule III controlled substance Suboxone to his girlfriend Jessica Williams. Williams was charged Monday with the same offenses.

A Chester County detective was assigned to the investigation earlier this month after correctional officers at the jail found four envelopes sent by Leffew between February and April. Each had an oversized postage stamp and either a return address label or a decal reading “Proud Supporter Paralyzed Veterans of America.” Underneath the stickers, officers found an unknown orange strip, determined by medical personnel to be Suboxone.

Investigators then began recording telephone conversations between Leffew and Williams, who he frequently called and visited. They allegedly heard Williams give Leffew instructions on how to buy, conceal and deliver the drug.

Authorities arrested Leffew in the prison parking lot on April 11 as he arrived for a visit. He confessed to delivering Suboxone to the facility on at least four occasions. A search of his home the next day revealed more than 14 letters from Williams further directing Leffew on who to buy the drugs from and how to smuggle them into the jail.

“If these two criminals spent as much time and creativity on doing something useful as they did on sneaking drugs into a prison, they might be gainfully employed,” Chester County District Attorney Dennis Hogan said in a release. “Instead, they both are looking at felony convictions.”

Leffew joined Williams in Chester County Prison after he failed to post $10,000 cash bail.