Drug running can be proven by your social media activities- Wagging your tongue can compound the risks

Drug running can be proven by your online activities, and all the more so when you admit to your connection to those activities. As a Fairfax criminal lawyer, I am amazed at how often Virginia criminal defendants bring themselves closer to an arrest, prosecution, conviction, and significant sentence, by not asserting their Fifth and Sixth Amendment Constitutional rights to keep their mouths shut with police and other law enforcement authorities (LEO). Travis Lee Williams is one of them. Williams v. Commonwealth of Virginia, Record No.  1558-24-4 (Va. App. 2025) (unpublished). Police stopped Williams’s vehicle for having an altered exhaust pipe. The appellate courts permit lawful stops for traffic law violations, even when that is a fishing trip for looking into more serious crime. It all went south from there.

Drug running can be all the more easily caught when you have waived your Fourth Amendment rights against unlawful police searches

The instances are legion where people involved in drug running make themselves sitting ducks for police detection, including when they drive vehicles that have equipment violations that permit a police stop. With Travis Lee Williams, his issues were compounded by his having been on probation for a conviction where his sentence included waiving his right to challenge law enforcement searches. “On the back seat [of Williams’s car], Officer Fry found a magnetic box containing methamphetamine residue… [Sheriff’s deputy] Kopp looked through Williams’s phone, reviewing text messages, social media messages, and photographs. In the messages, he was looking for ‘any kind of drug or drug transactions.'” Deputy sheriff Kopp “asked Williams if he knew what was on the phone and Williams said, ‘nothing’s on the phone.'” After a further phone search after obtaining a search warrant therefor, LEO found Facebook messages showing four different people seeking drug purchases from Williams. Williams. When arrriving day to arrest Williams for violating his probation, LEO asked Williams post-arrest if “‘he had anything on him.’ [and] Williams responded that he did and pulled a bag of methamphetamine’ out of his private area.” (For whatever reason, Williams does not address whether Williams had been Mirandized before being asked that question.)

Denying anything unusual on a cellphone can be an admission that it’s your cellphone

On appeal, Williams unsuccessfully challenged the admissibility of the Facebook messages, both based on authentication and hearsay grounds. Had Williams not said anything about the seized cellphone (he said “nothing’s on the phone”), he may have had a stronger argument to disassociate himself from the Facebook cellphone messages on appeal. However, his foregoing denial admitted his connection to that phone. On top of that, the Virginia Court of Appeals found the messages were admissible in evidence at trial for non-hearsay purposes, to show that Williams was in fact engaging in drug running in response to requests for such purchases. Williams. 

What elevates mere illegal drug / controlled substance possession to trafficking in the stuff?

The difference between mere illegal controlled substance possession and intent to distribute the same (drug running) looks at the totality of the circumstances, including, but not limited to, such factors as the defendant’s statements, packaging in bulk or in separate dosages, cash possession, buy and owe sheets, presence of paraphernalia, and overall quantity. Had Williams remained silent, the quantity in the bag (which quantity Williams does not state) may have been damning if more than a few doses, but his denial of anything on the cellphone connected him to the Facebook messages therein, and did him in further. Williams. 

Fairfax criminal lawyer / Virginia drug defense attorney Jonathan Katz believes strongly in your right to a beneficially effective full court press defense against Virginia felony, misdemeanor and DUI prosecutions. Protect your rights fully, starting with obtaining the best possible lawyer for you. Secure your free in-person initial confidential consultation with Jon Katz concerning your court-pending prosecution, by calling his staff at 703-383-1100, Info@KatzJustice.com and (text) 571-406-7268.