NORFOLK, Va. (WAVY) — Rashad Dooley, the man sentenced earlier this year to 25 years in prison in connection to the killing of ODU student Chris Cummings, has pleaded guilty to trying to smuggle prescription opioids into the Norfolk City Jail.
Dooley, 30, pleaded guilty to attempting or conspiring to deliver a controlled substance to a prisoner on Monday in Norfolk Circuit Court. He received a five-year sentence, which will run concurrently with the 25-year sentence.
Prosecutors say Dooley tried to smuggle numerous doses of buprenorphine, an opioid that can be used to treat opioid addiction but also be used for recreational purposes, into the jail back in October 2022 while he was awaiting sentencing in the Cummings case.
The drugs were mailed to the jail back on Oct. 28, 2022, and addressed to a different inmate who was housed in the same section of the jail as Dooley. The package was labeled “legal mail” and supposedly from Dooley’s attorney, but the return address didn’t match the law firm, which later denied sending the package.
Investigators were able to determine the drugs were mailed from Newport News and got surveillance footage from the post office that showed a woman known to Dooley mailing the package.
She had charges against her withdrawn as part of Dooley’s guilty plea.
