Main: Theresa M. DiJoseph entering Donald W. Wyatt Detention Facility in Rhode Island carrying numerous documents. Left inset: Correctional officers inspecting allegedly drug-soaked documents brought by DiJoseph at 4:20 p.m. (U.S. Attorney’s Office for the District of Rhode Island).
A 50-year-old attorney from Massachusetts has been arrested after authorities say she tried to smuggle drug-infused paper to a man incarcerated in a Rhode Island federal prison.
Theresa M. DiJoseph was taken into custody on Tuesday and charged with one count each of possession with intent to distribute a controlled substance, providing a prohibited object to an inmate, and making a false statement, authorities announced.
Hanasa Stedford, a 21-year-old Connecticut woman, and two men incarcerated at the Donald W. Wyatt Detention Facility in Rhode Island, 46-year-old Shawn D. Hart and 26-year-old Samuel Douglas, are also accused of participating in the alleged smuggling scheme. All three are facing one count of conspiracy to possess with intent to distribute a controlled substance and one count of providing a prohibited object to an inmate
According to the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the District Rhode Island, DiJoseph on July 9, 2023, used her credentials as an attorney to meet with Hart in a visiting room that did not have a plexiglass screen between the inmate and the visitor and is often used by attorneys to conduct legal work with clients. DiJoseph allegedly filled out paperwork claiming to be Hart’s attorney of record.
Hart had been a detainee at the facility since June 2023 after being charged in Massachusetts with distribution of more than 40 grams of fentanyl, possession with intent to distribute more than 50 grams of methamphetamine, possession of a firearm in furtherance of a drug trafficking crime, and being a felon in possession of firearms and ammunition.
A correctional officer on duty at the time of DiJoseph’s visit said that the lawyer was “slouching and acting very suspicious” and was “watching the correctional officer’s movements,” according to the criminal complaint.
It was soon discovered that DiJoseph did not represent Hart in any of his ongoing criminal or civil matters and that she had been sending Hart “personal photos of herself” and placing sports bets on his behalf, prosecutors said.
Soon after that visit, DiJoseph’s contact visitation privileges with Hart were terminated. DiJoseph allegedly responded by emailing Wyatt’s warden, stating that she was “repulsed” by allegations of potential misconduct. She said that an unidentified “opposing party” had served Hart with “many documents” and that there were “very complicated applicable rules and procedures and caselaw that must be explained to him in person for his very complicated situation.”
In September 2023, DiJoseph allegedly sent the warden another email claiming that during her previous visit she had been subjected to an “illegal” search because a correctional officer had checked the paperwork she had brought with her and reviewed “each piece of paper methodically and slowly,” including what she described as “very sensitive material and attorney work product.”
DiJoseph was permitted to resume contact visits with Hart in late November 2023, the feds said.
On Dec. 1, 2023, DiJoseph visited Hart again — at “approximately” 4:20 p.m., the complaint specified. When a correctional officer reviewed the materials DiJoseph indicated she wanted to bring into the visit with Hart, the officer “observed multiple pieces of paper that appeared as though they had been wet and then dried, were thicker than normal paper, and appeared discolored.”
“Based on the correctional officer’s experience identifying drugs in a correctional setting, he confiscated the papers — 10 pieces total — from DiJoseph as potential synthetic marijuana (also known as K2),” the compliant stated. “The 10 pieces of paper were seized by Wyatt’s Professional Standards Unit and placed in secure storage until they were collected by the FBI on December 4, 2023.”
Authorities said the papers “contained printed text regarding capital punishment cases.”
Investigators said that synthetic marijuana is often soaked into paper which is then torn into smaller pieces and sold throughout the prison. A single piece of paper is estimated to be worth up to $4,000 based on the availability of contraband at a given time.
When asked about the papers, DiJoseph allegedly told correctional officers that she “had picked the sheets up from her printer and just brought them here.”
The confiscated paper tested positive for residue of multiple Schedule 1 controlled substances, prosecutors said.
Investigators said they learned that Douglas had ordered his girlfriend, Stedford, to deliver the drug-soaked papers to DiJoseph so she could bring them to Hart.
When questioned about the papers by federal agents several weeks later, DiJoseph allegedly claimed she went to Staples earlier in the day to print some materials and “she believed the paperwork was added to her files” when she was there. But when pressed, authorities said, DiJoseph was unable to recall which Staples she visited and she could not produce a receipt.
DiJoseph and Stedford were scheduled to make her first court appearance on Tuesday. DiJoseph was released after posting a $10,000 unsecured bond, records show.
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