By Julia Marnin
The News Tribune (Tacoma, Wash.)
SAN DIEGO — A San Diego woman’s unsuccessful attempt to deliver heroin-filled Bibles to California prison inmates has led to a judge sentencing her to more than seven years in prison, federal prosecutors said.
The woman was arrested by federal investigators in December 2023, when prosecutors said she was found with sealed packages and envelopes addressed to inmates incarcerated in state prisons, according to the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of California.
After investigators unsealed the packages, prosecutors said two Bibles, with an estimated 23 grams of heroin hidden in the spines of the books, were located.
The Bibles were bound for two separate state prisons, according to prosecutors, who said the discovery prompted the woman’s second arrest in late 2023.
A month earlier, the woman was pulled over while driving a stolen Porsche in El Cajon, about a 15-mile drive northeast from San Diego, according to prosecutors. She was found to have a loaded firearm and another loaded magazine, prosecutors said.
Now, a federal judge has sentenced the woman, 46, to seven years and two months in prison for being a felon in possession of a firearm and possession with intent to distribute heroin, the U.S. Attorney’s Office said in a Feb. 14 news release.
Her federal public defender, Cindy V. Muro, didn’t immediately respond to McClatchy News’ request for comment Feb. 18.
In the video below, Gordon Graham discusses how to combat contraband in correctional facilities.
The woman pleaded guilty to the charges related to her having a firearm and trying to smuggle heroin to inmates, according to the U.S. Attorney’s Office.
She’s not allowed to possess a firearm or ammunition due to “multiple prior felony convictions,” prosecutors said.
Ahead of sentencing, Muro asked the court to consider a lesser sentence of three years and one month in prison for her client.
In a sentencing memorandum, Muro detailed the woman’s upbringing, noting how she was raised in an impoverished neighborhood and was surrounded by drugs and gang violence. Muro also detailed the woman’s unresolved childhood traumas and struggles with addiction.
She regrets her involvement in the case and is “committed to change,” Muro wrote in the filing.
“Smuggling drugs into our prisons endangers both the inmates and the correctional staff,” U.S. Attorney Andrew Haden said in a statement.
“Hopefully this case will serve as a warning to anyone who would be willing to abuse the tools of faith and rehabilitation to perpetuate addiction and despair.”
If you or a loved one shows signs of substance use disorder, you can seek help by calling the national hotline at 1-800-662-4357 or find treatment using SAMHSA’s online locator.
—
© 2025 The News Tribune (Tacoma, Wash.). Visit www.TheNewsTribune.com. Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC.