31 people arrested for running drug ring in Camden County Jail, prosecutors say
Howard Dunns, 50, led a sprawling operation to traffic illegal substances to inmates by hiding them in letters marked as legal mail, prosecutors said.
Thirty-one people were arrested for trafficking fentanyl and other illegal drugs inside the Camden County Jail, authorities said Wednesday, ending what they called a “complex and potentially far-reaching criminal enterprise.”
The investigation, dubbed Operation Paper Trail, began in October 2025, prosecutors said, and led to the arrests of suspects both inside and outside the jail.
“The takedown of Operation Paper Trail disrupted a dangerous network responsible for distributing illicit substances and facilitating criminal activity,” Camden County Prosecutor Grace C. MacAulay said in a statement.
“This operation not only enhanced public safety but also helped prevent further harm, protecting our communities and sparing countless individuals from the devastating effects of substance abuse,” she said.
The drug ring operations. prosecutors said, were run in part by Howard Dunns of Millville, N.J.
Dunns, 50, who was incarcerated at the Cumberland County jail, was a lead organizer of the drug ring, coordinating with Camden inmates who peddled fentanyl, synthetic marijuana, PCP, and cocaine at the facility, prosecutors said.
Dunns was charged with two counts of conspiracy to possess with the intent to distribute a controlled dangerous substance. It was not immediately clear whether he had hired an attorney.
Two Camden County Jail inmates, Wilfredo Santiago, 31, of Vineland, and Kyle Jones, 31, of Millville, were also accused of participating in the scheme by selling illegal substances to other inmates.
That included at least 58 grams of synthetic marijuana, which investigators seized in March, according to prosecutors.
The men were each charged with one count of conspiracy to possess with the intent to distribute a controlled dangerous substance.
The remaining 28 people were charged with drug crimes, many for possessing illegal substances.
Prosecutors said Santiago and Jones managed to sneak the drugs into the jail using paper that had been laced with the substances and marked as confidential legal correspondence between inmates and attorneys.
Detectives with the Camden County Department of Corrections learned of the drug ring in late 2025 after intercepting an envelope addressed to a 21-year-old man who was incarcerated in the jail, prosecutors said.
Detectives found that the supposed legal correspondence was inauthentic, and the letter later tested positive for traces of cocaine.
In addition to charging the inmate with a drug offense, detectives arrested the sender, a 32-year-old Camden man, and charged him with similar crimes.
He was later placed in custody in the Camden County Jail, and within months, prosecutors said, he had instructed an associate to traffic drugs into the facility through similar means.
