The US Department of Justice announced on Thursday that they have filed charges against an Anchorage defense attorney and her client for smuggling drugs into the Anchorage Correctional Complex.

The Anchorage defense attorney, 54-year-old Kit Lee Karjala, and her client, 33-year-old Christopher Brandon Miller who is also known as “Mellow,” an inmate at ACC, have both been charged with Drug Conspiracy, Possession and Distribution of Controlled Substances, and Providing and Possessing Contraband in a Prison, all federal crimes.

According to the court filing, prosecutors state that Karjala began bringing in and passing drugs to Miller and others during attorney-client visits as early as June of last year and no later than December, until the present.

While Karjala was Miller’s attorney, she was not the attorney of record for other co-conspirators in the Correctional Center although she represented to DOC that she was.

The court documents say that Karjala was allowed to use a room with no physical barriers as the inmate’s attorney of record and would pass the drugs to Miller, or on occasion, other inmates, then shield them from the cameras and DOC personnel as they secreted the drugs in their body. The inmates would take those drugs in their bodies back to their cells and later sell them to other inmates.

On May 2nd, Karjala requested a visit with Miller, and DOC allege that Karjala passed drugs to Miller, and he in turn inserted them in his body cavity. Miller was placed in a dry cell that day until May 5th. During that time, he passed multiple foreign objects including heroin and suboxone strips.

Court documents also point to deposits made into an account connected with Karjala from an inmate in the center with whom she had no professional relationship.

Karjala was arrested on Wednesday and is due in court at 11:00 am today to answer to the charges.

The FBI, Alaska State Troopers and DOC personnel investigated the case that led to the charges being filed.[xyz-ihs snippet=”Adsense-responsive”]

  Alaska, Anchorage, arrest, christopher brandon miller, contraband, corrections, drugs, heroin, jail, kit lee karjala, suboxone