KY deputy jailer indicted on organized crime charges connected to jail where he worked
A Letcher County deputy jailer was indicted Thursday on organized crime charges after police say he was involved in a conspiracy to smuggle drugs into the Whitesburg jail.
Austin Mullins, 26, of Jenkins, was arrested Jan. 21 and charged with driving on a DUI-suspended license, promoting contraband and organized crime. As of Friday, he is being held in the jail where he was employed.
Mullins was implicated in jailhouse inmate recordings, Letcher County Jailer Brian Slone told the Herald-Leader Jan. 23. Jail staff were able to identify Mullins as the subject of discussions in an inmate’s recorded phone conversations, the jailer said.
Within days, Slone said he and his deputies corroborated what they heard in the phone call using additional audio and video recordings in the jail. Slone said he contacted Letcher County commonwealth’s attorney Matt Butler, who forwarded the tip to the Whitesburg Police Department.
“It hurt my feelings, and it pissed me off for him to do something like that,” Slone said. “The inmate has got him under his thumb, and they’re going to start asking for other times, and you just don’t know when they’re going to stop.”
Slone said the contraband being discussed was drugs and alleged Mullins and an inmate exchanged a can.
On Wednesday afternoon, Whitesburg Police initiated a traffic stop on Mullins’ blue Toyota and arrested him for engaging in organized crime, a class B felony in Kentucky, carrying a prison sentence of up to 20 years.
Gavin Polly, 27, of Jenkins, an inmate at the Letcher County Jail, and Samantha Tubbs, 27, of Cromona, were also indicted on organized crime charges Thursday.
A $25,000 cash bond has been filed for Mullins and a $5,000 bond has been filed for Tubbs, according to court records. Both are scheduled for arraignment Wednesday, Feb. 4.
Police and jailers conducted a joint sweep of the jail Thursday, and no dangerous contraband was found, according to a community update posted on social media. Slone said a Whitesburg Police K-9 unit did alert to the can that was exchanged between the inmate and Mullins, but no drugs were located.
