Federal officials say a Calumet City man ran a synthetic drug operation that mailed drug-soaked paper and other substances to inmates in Illinois and beyond — a scheme they say reflects a growing contraband crisis in jails and prisons.
According to a newly filed criminal complaint, 41-year-old Denis Joiner — also known as Levon Moore — was arrested after FBI agents, postal inspectors, and other investigators tracked a series of packages allegedly linked to him. Prosecutors say those packages contained synthetic cannabinoids.
On May 12, investigators conducting surveillance allegedly saw Joiner enter the Lansing Post Office with a flat-rate envelope and leave without it. Postal inspectors later intercepted the package and, under a federal search warrant, opened it. Inside, they allegedly found a vacuum-sealed cloth soaked in liquid. Testing confirmed the substance was synthetic cannabinoids, according to the complaint. The package was addressed to a recipient in Jefferson, North Carolina — home to the Ashe County Detention Center…