This browser does not support the Video element.
Attorney's home searched in jailhouse investigation
Search warrants reveal investigators recently searched the home of a Minnesota criminal defense attorney, after her clients obtained legal paperwork in jail laced with cocaine and fentanyl. The attorney is not charged with a crime and called the suspicion "baseless."
MINNEAPOLIS (FOX 9) - Search warrants reveal investigators recently searched the home of Sarah Gad, a criminal defense attorney, after her clients obtained legal paperwork in jail laced with cocaine and fentanyl. Gad is not charged with a crime and called the suspicion "baseless."
Investigation involves criminal defense attorney
Dig deeper:
According to investigators in the warrant, an 8x11 piece of paper saturated with drugs can be worth tens of thousands of dollars.
In this case, investigators targeted legal paperwork not typically subject to examination after one inmate said in a recorded phone conversation, "Don’t worry they won’t open it."
After surveillance video showed Sarah Gad was the only person delivering legal papers to her client, they pulled trash from garbage cans outside her home and found alcohol bottles with traces of cocaine and fentanyl, according to the warrant.
What they're saying:
Gad declined an interview request.
In emails to FOX 9, Gad said authorities then conducted a "baseless" search of her home.
"Unsurprisingly, no narcotics were found, and no charges have been filed – because, aside from the clear legal and ethical implications, I would never engage in such conduct."
Gad confirmed that one of her clients has not been allowed to review any legal papers in his cell, adding that she convinced a judge to allow that client to access court files on a laptop in the last few weeks.
In a statement to FOX 9, Hennepin County Sheriff Dawanna Witt wrote, "This is an active investigation. While we cannot comment on an investigation, anyone jeopardizing the health and safety of those in our custody should be prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law. It is putting every detainee in harm’s way, with the potential to have life-threatening impacts. This is not something we take lightly."
Gad said she was in the process of starting a defamation lawsuit against the sheriff’s office, adding, "I remain at a loss for how my legitimate legal work was misinterpreted as drug smuggling, particularly given my decade-long advocacy for expanding addiction treatment in correctional facilities as a means to combat the opioid crisis."