Drug-smuggling case that ensnared Pierce County lawyer similar to that of ex-jail guard
Six days before a guard delivered narcotics into a King County jail last year, a colleague seized roughly 52.6 grams of methamphetamine concealed in the soles of two pairs of shoes.
The now ex-guard was Mosses Ramos, who was sentenced to more than eight years in prison on Oct. 11 for accepting $5,000 to smuggle about a pound of meth and 100 fentanyl pills into the King County Correctional Facility, according to the U.S. Attorney’s Office and federal court records.
The drugs seizure wasn’t related to Ramos’ case. Instead, federal prosecutors allege that prominent Pierce County defense attorney John M. Sheeran, in March 2023, intended to deliver the shoes to a client and another inmate.
Sheeran, 60, was indicted on Oct. 16 and charged with knowingly smuggling drugs on multiple occasions to two clients in the King County jail. He has pleaded not guilty.
The illegal substances were allegedly sneaked into the correctional facility in drug-soaked paperwork, chewing tobacco cans and trial clothing and shoes, according to the indictment. Sheeran purportedly began bringing drugs into the facility in December 2022 and stopped roughly four months later after the drugs were discovered hidden in the shoes.
“We look forward to responding to these allegations in court,” attorney Jennifer Wellman, who’s representing Sheeran, said in a statement to The News Tribune on Oct. 28.
The conspiracy involving Ramos and others, which Ramos’ indictment said lasted between about March 2023 and May 2023, intersected with the time frame of the alleged conspiracy involving Sheeran, federal court records show.
In addition to the timing and location, the two cases share another similarity: alleged co-conspirators.
Michael Barquet, an inmate who wasn’t a client of Sheeran’s, and Katrina Cazares, an outside associate of Barquet’s — both of whom were charged in the Ramos case — also have been accused of involvement in the drug-smuggling operation for which Sheeran has been charged, according to federal court records.
The News Tribune reviewed federal and state court documents, including in Ramos’ case, in an effort to learn more about Sheeran’s indictment and his alleged co-conspirators.
One key piece of information has not yet been publicly revealed: What do prosecutors suggest motivated Sheeran, a West Pierce Fire commissioner and former prosecutor, to allegedly partake in the scheme?
Ramos and five co-defendants had been charged with, among other things, bribery and conspiracy to engage in bribery. Sheeran is not facing a bribery-related charge, and his indictment didn’t allege what he stood to gain.
Kevin Sonoff, a spokesperson for the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the District of Oregon, which is prosecuting the case to avoid any appearance of conflict, declined Oct. 28 to answer questions about the ongoing case.
For Ramos, his family had been in a financial bind and he was effectively a “mule,” according to a sentencing memo filed by Ramos’ attorney. The prosecution’s memo noted there was evidence that Ramos said his wife didn’t want him to follow through with smuggling drugs inside the facility because they didn’t need the money.
The drugs Sheeran stands accused of supplying were apparently valuable, according to his indictment: Barquet told Cazares that each of the 31 sheets of paper allegedly provided by Sheeran could be sold for $4,800 — or $600 for a driver’s license-sized cut-out.
The U.S. Attorney’s Office alleged that Sheeran’s co-conspirators sold the drugs to other inmates for significant sums.
Sheeran has no reported disciplinary history with the Washington State Bar Association, and nothing appeared under his name in bankruptcy records, nor was his name found in tax or domestic court documents since 2020 searched by The News Tribune.
An inmate and his partner on the outside
Barquet, 38, was in custody awaiting sentencing on a conviction for being a felon in possession of a firearm, the Seattle Times previously reported. At least at the time, he was in a relationship with Cazares, court records show.
Cazares, 39, worked at a convenience store in Burien, where she lived, and repeatedly spoke with Barquet on recorded jail calls and video visits, according to the prosecution’s sentencing memo and other court records related to Ramos’ case.
Inside the Burien store, Ramos met with Cazares for roughly eight minutes on March 14, 2023. The next day, Barquet indicated to Cazares on recorded jail communications that Ramos demanded $5,000 to smuggle drugs into the jail for him.
Cazares was described as managing the hand-off of drugs and payment to Ramos, and Barquet and another inmate exercised control over her, according to the sentencing memo. She pleaded guilty on Aug. 13 to two conspiracy charges, court records show. One of the charges, conspiracy to distribute controlled substances, carries a maximum 20-year prison sentence — a charge that Sheeran now also faces. Cazares has yet to be sentenced.
Sheeran, who additionally has been charged with possession with intent to distribute meth, illegal use of a communication facility and distribution of buprenorphine, allegedly met with Cazares outside of her workplace and more frequently than Ramos’ lone visit, according to Sheeran’s indictment.
Sheeran arrived on Dec. 5, 2022, at Cazares’ home to allegedly pick up roughly 17 sheets of paper soaked in meth and two others drenched in ketamine, the indictment said. They met at her home again on Jan. 3, 2023, so Sheeran could purportedly obtain 12 paper sheets soaked in meth and two cans of chewing tobacco containing meth.
The two got together once more at Cazares’ home on March 19, 2023, for Sheeran to allegedly pick up at least two sets of trial clothes, meth concealed in two pairs of shoes and two cans of chewing tobacco containing unknown quantities of meth, THC and suboxone strips, according to the indictment. A February 2023 photograph of Cazares, Barquet and an inmate represented by Sheeran, allegedly discussing the smuggling of drugs in a hidden compartment in a shoe, was attached in the indictment.
On May 15, 2023, nearly two months after a correctional officer seized the drugs hidden in the shoes, Sheeran met Cazares at a 7-Eleven in Burien, the indictment said. He purportedly returned two cans of drugs that weren’t smuggled into the jail and asked Cazares whether anyone from the courthouse had contacted her.
Throughout the interactions, Cazares kept in contact with Barquet in jail and discussed the drug-smuggling operation, according to the indictment. She allegedly communicated in jail-recorded conversations with Barquet and Sheeran’s two clients using coded language, the indictment said.
Barquet’s trial in the Ramos-related conspiracy is scheduled for April 14. His attorney, Tim Lohraff, confirmed to The News Tribune that he anticipated also representing Barquet in the Sheeran case. Lohraff said Oct. 24 that he didn’t believe Barquet had been indicted yet in that matter and declined further comment. Sheeran’s indictment names Barquet and Cazares as defendants.
Inquiries left with two attorneys who represented Cazares in the Ramos case were not returned. A message left at a phone number that public records show belonged to Cazares also was not returned.
Sheeran isn’t accused of having successfully delivered drugs directly to Barquet. Instead, he allegedly handed them off to two of his clients inside the facility, his indictment said.
Sheeran’s clients
According to Sheeran’s indictment, he represented Kevin Harper from December 2019 through March 2023 and Darryl Peterson between March 2020 and July 2023. Both were inmates at the King County jail and are named as defendants in the indictment.
Harper was charged with attempted murder, kidnapping and other charges in March 2019 in a case that remains ongoing. The Seattle Times reported that prosecutors said Harper allegedly broke into a woman’s home in Kirkland, tied her up and stabbed her several times.
Peterson was charged with murder in the January 2017 shooting of a 52-year-old man in downtown Seattle, according to the Seattle Times. Peterson was convicted by a jury in June 2023 and has appealed, King County Superior Court records show.
Sheeran’s indictment alleged that Sheeran delivered 19 sheets of paper soaked in meth or ketamine to Peterson; 12 sheets soaked in meth and two cans of chewing tobacco containing an unknown quantity of meth to Harper; and discussed with Harper the seizure of the meth from the shoes intended for Harper and Barquet, the indictment said.
During a phone call, Harper purportedly told Cazares that Sheeran said not to speak with anyone about the seizure and that Sheeran would discuss it with Cazares later, according to the indictment.
Neither Harper nor Peterson yet have attorneys on record related to the indictment, federal court records show.
This story was originally published October 29, 2024 at 5:00 AM.
