West Pierce Fire commissioner and Pierce County defense attorney John M. Sheeran, 60, was arraigned Monday for allegedly smuggling drugs to clients in a King County jail, according to a Department of Justice release.
Sheeran’s charges include “conspiring to distribute controlled substances, possessing and distributing methamphetamine, distributing buprenorphine, and illegally using a communication facility,” the release says.
According to the indictment, he used his position as an attorney to give drugs, including methamphetamine, ketamine, buprenorphine and THC, to two of his clients who were then inmates at King County Correctional Facility in Seattle.
“During the conspiracy, Sheeran distributed, or possessed with an intent to distribute, sheets of paper that had been soaked in drugs, chewing tobacco cans that swapped out the tobacco with drugs, and trial clothes that had drugs concealed in the soles of the shoes,” the release said. “After Sheeran successfully smuggled the drugs into KCCF, Sheeran’s co-conspirators sold the drugs to other inmates for significant sums.”