Kansas Woman Indicted for Smuggling Heroin into Correctional Center

KANSAS CITY, Mo. – A Shawnee, Kansas, woman has been indicted by a federal grand jury for smuggling heroin to an inmate at the Western Missouri Correctional Center in Cameron, Missouri.

Juliane L. Colby, 43, was charged in a four-count indictment returned under seal by a federal grand jury in Kansas City, Mo., on March 16, 2021. That indictment was unsealed and made public at Colby’s initial court appearance today.

The federal indictment alleges that Colby participated in a conspiracy from Aug. 1 to Aug. 10, 2019, to distribute heroin. Colby allegedly conspired with others to smuggle heroin and other contraband into the Western Missouri Correctional Center. 

According to the indictment, Colby hid heroin in an envelope marked as “Legal Mail” that also contained numerous pleadings and documents from a criminal court case along with other contraband. The envelope was labelled with a return address for a law firm purportedly located in Harrisonville, Mo., the indictment says, although Colby mailed it from a post office in Shawnee.

Colby and a conspirator at the correctional center allegedly had a series of phone conversations during which they used a variety of code words to discuss the plan to mail heroin and contraband into the center. 

In addition to the drug-trafficking conspiracy, the indictment charges Colby with one count of attempting to distribute heroin and two counts of using a communication facility (a cell phone and the U.S. Postal Service) to commit the drug-trafficking offenses.

The charges contained in this indictment are simply accusations, and not evidence of guilt. Evidence supporting the charges must be presented to a federal trial jury, whose duty is to determine guilt or innocence.

This case is being prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorney Brent Venneman. It was investigated by the FBI, the U.S. Postal Inspection Service, the Cameron, Mo., Police Department, and the Missouri Department of Corrections.