Lexington man gets decades in prison after he tried to mail meth inside markers to inmate
A Lexington man was sentenced to 30 years in federal prison Monday after admitting to meth trafficking.
Jeffrey Maurice Robinson was sentenced Monday in federal court in Lexington. In addition to trafficking, he also admitted to using a gun in furtherance of trafficking, according to court records. Investigators were tipped off to Robinson’s trafficking activity after he attempted to mail meth into a state prison by concealing it in markers, according to court records.
Lexington police were contacted by officials at the Luther Luckett Correctional Complex in December 2020 after a package intended for an inmate was intercepted and found to have narcotics in it, according to court records. The Luther Luckett Correctional Complex is a state prison in La Grange.
“The package contained markers with narcotics concealed inside them,” prosecutors wrote in court records. “Prison officials conducted an internal investigation which included a review of jail calls (audio and video) and interviews of several inmates.
“Prison officials determined that the narcotics had been sent to the facility through a private carrier (United Parcel Service or UPS) by an individual named Jeffery Robinson.”
Officials utilized UPS databases to determine the package had a return address listed in Lexington. A Lexington police detective started conducting surveillance on Robinson and the address listed for him, according to court records.
Investigators found Robinson at a Probation and Parole office in Lexington where he admitted to having about one pound of meth plus quantities of heroin and MDMA in his apartment, according to court records. Robinson also said he had a gun inside his home.
Officers took Robinson back to his residence and he showed them where the items were, according to court records. He also admitted to drug distribution.
Robinson has to forfeit the 9 mm gun and nearly $10,000 in cash as part of his plea agreement.
Several people wrote letters to the court asking for leniency in Robinson’s sentencing. His father, Maurice Anderson, said Robinson had just gotten out of prison around the same time the COVID-19 pandemic started. Between being a convicted felon and the effects of the pandemic, it was hard for Robinson to find employment, Anderson wrote.
“The lure of fast cash had him blind to the consequences, and now l’m sure that because of these consequences he realizes that it did not only harm himself but also his children,” Anderson wrote.
Robinson’s stepmother, Charlotte Ross, said she hoped the courts could keep Robinson close to home so he could maintain a relationship with his children.
“I still believe in him as an honorable human being,” she wrote in a letter to the court.
Robinson’s 30-year prison sentence was handed down by Chief U.S. District Judge Danny C. Reeves. Robinson will have to serve at least 85 percent of his sentence, which would be about 25 years and six months, before he’s eligible for parole. Once released, he’ll be on probation for 10 years, according to prosecutors.