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Background: Duval County Jail in Jacksonville, Fla. (Google Maps). Inset (top): Nathan Williams (Jacksonville Sheriff’s Office). Inset (bottom): Jenard Ketter (Jacksonville Sheriff’s Office).
A Florida criminal defense attorney who was accused of smuggling drugs into a jail for his inmate client claimed that his client set him up in order to secure a better deal for himself.
In January 2025, Nathan Williams, 37, was arrested and charged in connection with a monthslong investigation into how illegal drugs were finding their way into Duval County Jail. He faces eight felony charges related to drug smuggling, but now he claims that he was set up by his client, Jenard Ketter, 30. Williams told local news outlet The Florida Trident, “I believe [Ketter] set me up to get leniency from the state and favor with the Jacksonville Sheriff’s Office.”
Williams was accused of coordinating with inmates and members of their families to smuggle papers that were soaked with ADB-PINACA, a synthetic form of marijuana that is a Schedule I controlled substance, into the Duval County Jail.
On Dec. 16, an arrest report says, at around 10:35 a.m., Williams arrived at the Duval County Jail and met with two inmates, including Ketter. He then “passed a sheet of ‘paper dope’ to inmate Ketter after a meeting, who then immediately handed it to [the other inmate]. This sheet of paper eventually tested positive for the presence of ADB-PINACA (cannabinoid),” the arrest report said.
Williams was one of 21 people arrested as part of Operation Stamp Collection, which kicked off in February 2024 when a spike in inmate drug overdoses prompted suspicion about how the drugs were getting to the inmates.
But in the lengthy interview with The Florida Trident, Williams said that he “had no knowledge of what my client was doing or what was happening.”
Williams became Ketter’s attorney while the latter man was in prison. Ketter worked with Williams, paying him only a $1,200 retainer, to cooperate with authorities and provide information about other criminal cases in order to reduce his sentences. However, Williams said that prosecutors started to suspect that Ketter was “not being truthful.” Their working relationship started to break down, and Ketter eventually brought on a new criminal defense attorney, John Rockwell, while continuing to work with Williams on other cases.
According to Williams’ arrest report, both Ketter and Williams were under constant surveillance as part of Operation Stamp Collection. So on Dec. 16, when they allegedly worked out how to get the drug-soaked paperwork into the prison, sheriff’s deputies were listening.
Ketter allegedly told Williams that there was a letter from a woman he said was his aunt that he needed to get to Rockwell. Williams picked up the letter and drove to Duval County Jail to bring it to Ketter. While inspecting the contents in the parking lot, Williams said that he noticed the papers were “sticky.”
Williams eventually delivered the paper to Ketter, but remembered that inmates were prohibited from keeping original documents. When he tried to get Ketter to come back and return the papers, a corrections officer told him that the papers had been copied and the originals shredded. That corrections officer, who was not named, stated in the arrest report that Williams was “acting suspicious” and appeared to be “relieved” when he was told that the original paperwork, which tested positive for drugs, had been shredded.
In the interview, Williams said, “I had no idea what the paper was. If I wanted to pass drug paper, I surely wouldn’t be waving it in my hand with cameras recording my every move and guards monitoring what was going on.”
The arrest report substantiated Williams’ claim that there was a coordinated effort between himself, Ketter, and Ketter’s relative to get what were purportedly legal documents from outside the jail into the jail and into the possession of Ketter. The report also noted that Williams “thought he was just picking up paperwork,” apparently unaware that five pages inside the envelope he received tested positive for an illicit substance.
Williams posted bond after his arrest and pleaded not guilty to all the charges against him. His next court date is scheduled for March 11.
Ketter has not been charged with any crimes related to Operation Stamp Collection.
