Cards not in favor for duo convicted in New Kent for smuggling drugs in jail

Sometimes in a game of poker, a person has to learn how to play with the cards that are dealt to them. Unfortunately for a former girlfriend and boyfriend, it was playing cards that led to multiple convictions in New Kent Circuit Court.

Reginald Jarone Carter, 43, and Lori Kay Moore, 41, both who currently reside in Henrico Jail East, received guilty verdicts in a contested joint trial during Monday proceedings.

Last October, officers at Henrico Jail East received information that drugs were being brought into the jail from outside sources. Carter, who was an inmate, became a target of the operation due to recent convictions related to distributing drugs that landed him a nine-year prison sentence. With information in tow, extra surveillance equipment was set up to monitor the visitor’s area as well as an adjacent hallway.

On Oct. 25, Moore came to visit Carter, who she was dating at the time. Video evidence presented by Commonwealth’s Attorney Linwood Gregory displayed that at the end of the visitation period, Moore proceeded to a back door that led to the hallway where prisoners walked by to return to their housing facility. Visual evidence showed Moore opening her jacket near the latch of the door. At the same time, simultaneous video showed Carter at the other side of the door, with his jacket draping from his shoulders and covering the latch.

Suspicion arose from Sgt. Steve Simms, who was leading the investigative team in the stakeout.

“I saw something go through the door and saw Carter take something white through the door,” Simms testified. “I radioed ahead to not allow any people in and out of Housing Unit Seven [Carter’s cell unit].”

Simms and other deputies went out to intercept Carter. Testimony from Deputy Anthony Brandon, who was guarding the door to Housing Unit Seven, said he saw Carter run off the sidewalk and over to a drain, where he bent over.

“That grassy area is a restricted area and no inmates are allowed on that area,” Brandon said. “He ran over there and then he ran back onto the sidewalk. He was only there a few seconds.”

Additional testimony from Simms revealed he took Carter to the booking area and conducted a strip search. The sergeant recovered two playing cards from the defendant. Meanwhile, Deputy Frederick Luellen removed the cover off the drain and proceeded down the hole.

“I saw an object lying in the bottom that looked like a playing card and I retrieved it,” Luellen said.

That card turned out not to be one, but two cards taped together. Luellen returned the cards to Simms, who separated the two. Inside were two pieces of wax paper filled with white substances. Initial field tests revealed one of the substances to be heroin and the other to be cocaine.

Evidence revealed that the pattern on the cards retrieved from Carter were identical to the ones found in the drain. However, it was a question from the commonwealth’s attorney to Luellen that would prove to be a key focus on the case.

“What was the condition of the card that you found in the drain?” asked Gregory.

“It was dry when I recovered it,” responded Luellen. “It was dry, and I know the day before it had rained.

Carter’s defense attorney Todd Duval argued that similar actions occurred that day during visitation hours.

“As you can see a lot of people walked up to that door and I want the court to take notice of that,” Duval argued. “Nobody witnessed Mr. Carter take anything or throw anything in the drain.

“There is no regular inspection of that drain and there is no visual evidence of any exchange,” the defense attorney concluded.

However, Judge Thomas B. Hoover ruled that Carter knew everything that was going on, and that Gregory’s question about the condition of the card presented compelling evidence.

“Mr. Carter knew drugs were coming in,” the judge commented. “He already had his coat draped over his shoulders and walked to the crack of the door. Ms. Moore walks up to the crack and slides an object to Carter, who takes it.

“The compelling question asked by the commonwealth about the weather conditions revealed that it had rained the day before but the object retrieved was dry,” Hoover continued. “That is more than circumstantial evidence and I find him guilty on all charges.”

As for Moore, she made a statement to police officers on Dec. 2 during a follow-up investigation. There, she admitted through both conversation and a written confession that she had stashed the drugs between two cards and slid the object to Carter.

Moore was convicted on two counts of delivering drugs to a prisoner, two counts of conspiracy to deliver drugs to a prisoner, and one count each of possession of heroin and possession of cocaine. She received a 10-year jail sentence with all but one year suspended on the two convictions of delivering drugs to a prisoner (two years to serve). All 10 years on each of the other four charges, as well as nine years remaining in the delivering drugs charges for a total of 58 years were suspended.

Carter received convictions on two counts of conspiracy to deliver drugs to a prisoner, and one count each of possession of heroin and possession of cocaine. On the conspiracy charges, he received one year, six months on each charge (three years to serve), with the remaining 17 years suspended. All 10 years on both possession charges were suspended. Carter, however, received an additional three years in prison as the result of a probation violation.