DOC: Philadelphia men posed as attorneys to smuggle contraband into SCI Mahanoy, others
KAYLEE LINDENMUTH / SHENANDOAH SENTINEL FILE - SCI-Mahanoy, seen from the Shenandoah Heights area.
MOREA – Two men are facing charges after authorities say they smuggled drugs into SCI Mahanoy and SC Coal Township, among others, using legal mail.
Devin Walker, 34, and Dejah Schoolfield, 29, both from Philadelphia, are accused of using falsified legal credentials to send drug‑saturated paper into prisons, according to the Pennsylvania Department of Corrections.
The two are accused of taking advantage of the department’s legal mail system, or correspondence between attorneys or court personnel and inmates.
That mail has an Attorney Control Number issued by the DOC for verified attorneys or court personnel.
At SCI Smithfield in Huntingdon County in 2024, authorities intercepted a piece of legal male sent to an inmate suspected of drug smuggling, marked with an ACN from “Thomson Law Office.”
That inmate was working with Walker and Schoolfield, authorities alleged, “to introduce contraband to state correctional institutions.” Schoolfield, authorities alleged, created a website purporting to be an actual attorney to obtain an ACN.
The Huntingdon County package was one of seven sent to state prisons. Two were sent to our area — one to SCI Mahanoy, near Morea, and another to SCI Coal Township, near Shamokin.
Others were sent statewide, including to SCI Forest, SCI Fayette, and SCI Dallas.
Six of the seven packages were seized and paper inside had been saturated with synthetic cannabinoids, authorities alleged.
The men are facing charges of Forgery, Identity Theft, and Contraband in Huntingdon County.
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