SEATTLE — A Washington defense attorney is accused of smuggling drugs, including meth, into a Seattle jail during his visits with clients, according to the U.S. District Court of Western Washington.
Sheeran, a former deputy prosecuting attorney at Pierce County Prosecutor's Office and a current elected commissioner for West Pierce Fire and Rescue, was arrested in University Place on Monday.
The 60-year-old is facing federal charges of conspiring to distribute controlled substances, possessing and distributing meth, distributing buprenorphine and illegally using a communication facility.
He appeared in federal court on Monday in Seattle and pleaded not guilty. His jury trial is set to begin Dec. 20, 2024.
Sheeran used his role as an attorney to smuggle methamphetamine, ketamine, buprenorphine and THC to two of his then-clients, according to the Department of Justice, who were inmates at the King County Correctional Facility, a jail in Seattle.
Between November 2022 and February 2023, he brought the drugs hidden in the soles of shoes, via fake paperwork soaked in drugs and in chewing tobacco cans filled with drugs, documents allege. The drugs were then sold to other inmates inside the jail.
On March 19, Sheeran met with a co-conspirator in Burien to pick up trial clothes for his clients, which contained 52.6 grams of meth hidden in the soles of two pairs of shoes and two cans of chewing tobacco containing an unknown amount of drugs, documents state. That same day, the items were seized by a correctional officer at the King County Correctional Facility.
On Oct. 16, a federal grand jury returned an indictment, charging Sheeran and four other co-conspirators in connection with the crimes.
If he is convicted, Sheeran faces a maximum sentence of 20 years in federal prison and a possible fine of up to $1 million.
Sheeran worked as a deputy prosecuting attorney in Pierce County for over 20 years and then joined Puget Law Group as a defense attorney. However, he is no longer listed on the law group’s website.
He was elected by voters as a commissioner on the West Pierce Fire and Rescue board in 2020 to serve a five-year term. The agency said it was notified of Sheeran's arrested on Tuesday and will take action as needed once they have more information.
Sheeran also represented Pierce County Sheriff Ed Troyer, who was charged with false reporting and for making a false or misleading statement to a public servant after he allegedly claimed on an officer line to 911 dispatch that Sedrick Altheimer, a Black newspaper carrier, threatened to kill him in January 2021.
Troyer was found not guilty in 2022 and the $5 million case was settled.
