JACKSONVILLE, Fla. — The Jacksonville Sheriff’s Office conducted an investigation into the flow of illegal drugs into the Duval County Jail, which resulted in 21 arrests, one of which is a local defense attorney. 

Undersheriff Shawn Coarse made the announcement Tuesday at the Police Memorial Building downtown. Coarse said the undercover investigation, deemed “Operation Stamp Collection,” was initiated in February 2024 in response to an increase in drug overdoses in the Duval County Jail. 

Coarse said there is no evidence that suggests the 21 arrested in the operation were working together. 

Nathan Williams, one of the arrestees, is a defense attorney in Jacksonville who has his business address listed as 5608 Hillman Drive, according to the Florida Bar website. JSO said Williams delivered “drug-soaked sheets of paper” into the jail in exchange for money. 

Coarse said Williams coordinated with inmates and inmate family members to admit sheets of “legal paperwork” to jail inmates, however the paper was laced with synthetic marijuana, known on the street as “paper dope,” or “K2.”  

Williams is a solo practitioner of law who was admitted into the Florida Bar on April 16, 2014. JSO said he attended the Florida A&M University College of Law and was a member of the Army National Guard for 16 years. 

The goal of “Operation Stamp Collection” was to lower drug overdoses in the Duval County Jail, Coarse said. In 2023, he said there were 23 overdoses in the jail, but in the year JSO’s investigation began, that number dropped to nine. 

Williams was arrested Sunday evening and faces eight third-degree felonies.