Crime & Safety

Charges: Police Bust Two Women Smuggling Cocaine into Stillwater Prison

A St. Paul woman told detectives the June 10 incident wasn't the first time she smuggled narcotics into an inmate.

Two women face felony charges after they allegedly worked together to smuggle narcotics into Stillwater Prison.

Andrea Natasha Nicole Cox, 35, of St. Paul and Chesica Dawn Brown, 30, of St. Louis Park were each charged this week by the Washington County Attorney’s Office with one count of aiding and abetting to bring contraband into a state correctional facility and third-degree possession of cocaine.

According to the criminal complaints:

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The Bayport Police were called to the Minnesota Correctional Facility—Stillwater on June 10 of a report that Brown and Cox were detained by prison staff on suspicion of smuggling drugs into the prison.

Prison investigators told police that detectives were monitoring phone calls between Brown and prison inmate Marvin Orlando Johnson when they learned that Brown and Johnson had successfully smuggled narcotics into the prison in the past, and had now recruited Cox on inmate Lyle Thomas’s visitor list in an attempt to smuggle narcotics in during a visit, the complaint states.

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Investigators learned that on June 10 Johnson and Brown indicated they could register between 2 and 3 p.m. and that Brown would provide Cox with narcotics, the complaint states. Brown and Cox were allowed into the visiting room, where they were met by detectives and escorted into separate conference rooms.

When detectives asked Cox if she knew why she was pulled aside to a conference room, she allegedly gave police a green balloon filled with a white powdery substance that later tested to be 5.9 grams of cocaine.

Cox told police that Brown told her she was going to pass an item to Thomas during a visit. Cox also told detectives that Brown had her 3-year-old son in her vehicle when she picked up Cox, gave her a balloon filled with a white substance and drove her to the prison.

Cox told investigators that she knows Brown through Johnson and that Brown made the arrangements to smuggle the balloon, the complaint states. Cox also told detectives that she smuggled two bags of marijuana into the prison during her last visit on June 9.

Cox also admitted to bringing in one balloon on another visit about one week prior, the complaint states.

During a search of Brown's vehicle, detectives found 2.03 grams of marijuana and a glass pipe in the center console of the vehicle, the complaint states.

If convicted, Brown and Cox each face a maximum of 10 years in prison for the aiding and abetting to bring a controlled substance into a state prison charge. They also face a maximum of 20 years in prison for the third-degree possession of cocaine charge.


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