Man sentenced to prison after using Phoenix bookstores to send drug-laced books to inmates

PHOENIX — A man was sentenced to prison last week for using unwitting Phoenix bookstores to send drugs to federal inmates, according to authorities.

Julius Darnell Dixon was sentenced to 51 months in prison, according to the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the District of Arizona.

U.S. District Judge Steven Logan also said he will have to spend 60 months of supervised release following his sentence.

Sending drugs to federal inmates sends Phoenix man to prison

Dixon, 54, pleaded guilty to conspiring to possess with intent to distribute a controlled substance in October, prosecutors said.

His crimes date to February 2023. From that starting point through April 2024, Dixon conspired with federal inmates to smuggle drugs to various institutes through books, prosecutors said.

Dixon used Phoenix bookstores to send the books, which had hidden Suboxone strips, to inmates.

By using bookstores, Dixon tricked prison security into thinking the inmates had bought the books directly from the stores, according to the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the District of Arizona.

It was only after prison staff intercepted two mailings between Dixon and inmates he conspired with that the drug smuggling plot came to light.

Investigators traced the packages back to the Phoenix-area bookstores and found Dixon had given one of the stores his name, mailing address and email address, prosecutors said.

Related

Department of Health confirms first case of Clade I mpox in Arizona but says public risk lowJay Feely, Amish Shah win respective primaries, will face each other for CD-1Kimberly Yee wins GOP primary for Arizona schools chief over Tom HorneMan convicted of felony assault for punching woman at No Kings protest in Prescott ValleyRemains found in Grand Canyon identified as hiker missing since 2012Avondale man receives 5-year sentence for distributing fentanyl