PORTSMOUTH, Va. (WAVY) — A former Portsmouth Assistant Commonwealth’s Attorney faces federal marijuana charges.
Federal prosecutors say Matthew Taylor Morris conspired with others to distribute large quantities of marijuana, and would even store the marijuana in his law office. This all happened between March 2021 and May 2022, prosecutors say, before he joined the Portsmouth Commonwealth’s Attorney’s Office.
Taylor was hit with the charges, conspiracy to distribute and possess with intent to distribute marijuana and possession on Tuesday, September 10, court documents show.
Prosecutors say Morris worked with co-conspirators Nicholas Capehart, Donald Rogers and Jeffrey Sines to distribute the marijuana and “did derive substantial gross proceeds from their unlawful activities.”
Rogers would store large quantities of marijuana in storage across Hampton Roads, including at Morris’ office, prosecutors say. They say Morris and the others, using encrypted messaging to evade detection, would coordinate to pick up the marijuana from those locations and sell it.
The charges came about a year and a half after Morris had his law license suspended for six months, after he prosecuted cases as an assistant commonwealth’s attorney under a previous suspension. 10 On Your Side also reported that Morris had his law license suspended after he was found in contempt of court for twice bringing a gun into the Virginia Beach courthouse. He also showed up hours late to a court hearing scheduled for 9:30 a.m.
Morris told the judge at the time that he may be “bordering on being unfit to be an attorney.”
10 On Your Side reached out to the Portsmouth Commonwealth’s Attorney’s Office about the case. They confirmed Morris voluntarily resigned on September 6, just days before he was indicted.