A Utah defense attorney is back in jail on drug charges months after he pleaded guilty to smuggling heroin and cocaine into the Weber County jail.
Tony Miles was charged Monday with two counts of drug possession and a charge of possessing drug paraphernalia.
Miles, an Ogden-based defense attorney, had been out on bail after he pleaded guilty in October to third-degree felony drug possession. He was scheduled to be sentenced in early January.
An Ogden police officer wrote in a probable cause statement that he found Miles with drugs on him over the weekend. The officer had been investigating a theft case, where someone who was with Miles was attempting to sell a stolen bow. The officer decided to impound the truck because the driver had a suspended license, and had asked Miles to step out of the passenger side of the vehicle.
Officers searched the truck and found a contact lens case that allegedly had methamphetamine and opium in it.
Miles told the officers the drugs were his, according to charging documents.
He is now being held in a local jail without the opportunity to post bail, after a judge found he was a danger to himself and the community. It is also typical for a judge to not allow someone to post bail if they are already out on bail and commit a new crime.
In the jail smuggling case, Miles faces up to five years in prison for each drug charge when he is sentenced in January. Court documents indicate he will be participating in drug court.
Prosecutors allege Miles smuggled in drugs to give to inmates — though he did not admit to that in plea agreement documents.
Investigators learned that two prisoners who were caught with drugs had discussed someone nicknamed “Law School” who was bringing a “care package” to the jail, charges state.
Miles did not represent any of the inmates implicated in the case, according to a probable cause statement filed in court, but visited one of them several times in February and March 2017 and another before Miles was arrested April 7, 2017.
On that day, Miles was at the jail to visit a third inmate, according to charges, and signed in using another name. He then went to the “secure area,” where attorneys meet their clients, according to prosecutors.
There, a sheriff’s deputy told him he was performing random searches, according to charges.
He allegedly volunteered that he had a heroin problem and handed the deputy a piece of aluminum foil and a black tube — items that law enforcement say are used to smoke heroin.
When the deputy stepped away to get a glove to collect the items, Miles began fidgeting with his pants, according to charges. When pressed by the deputy, Miles allegedly gave the law enforcement officer a contact lens case. One side of the case had a “black rock” that looked like heroin, police say, while the other side contained a white powder substance that appeared to be cocaine.
The Utah State Bar lists Miles’ law license as “suspended,” but no discipline records have been made public.
