Authorities say official’s mom-in-law sold pills in prison lot

A high-ranking Texas prison official was forced out of his job days after his mother-in-law was arrested for allegedly selling prescription pills to a pair of agency employees, one in a prison parking lot and the other outside a Huntsville tractor supply store.

Kathy Lindley, the mother-inlaw of regional director Wayne Brewer, was arrested in June on two felony drug charges following a monthslong investigation into “improprieties” involving Huntsville administrative workers. The two workers who court papers show admitted to buying prescription amphetamines have since been fired, and officials said this month that Brewer — as well as his wife, Melinda — was “administratively separated” from the agency.

“This action was based on an internal investigation that identified actions by both Melinda and Wayne Brewer which question their integrity in conflict with the

agency core values,” said Texas Department of Criminal Justice spokesman Jeremy Desel. “Any action on the part of an employee that jeopardizes the integrity or security of TDCJ institutions, calls into question the employee’s ability to perform effectively and efficiently in the employee’s position, or casts doubt upon the integrity of the employee is prohibited.”

It’s not clear whether the couple’s removal was related to the arrest and terminations, and agency officials did not offer clarification.

Investigators with the prison system’s Office of the Inspector General fielded a tip early in the year and, in the course of their probe, learned about the alleged pill-dealing. After chasing down bank records and talking to witnesses, officials moved in to arrest the 59year-old Trinity woman in late June.

The breakthrough in the case came last month when two civilian employees working in a TDCJ administrative building across from the Huntsville Unit — better known as “The Walls” — admitted to buying drugs from Lindley.

One, a longtime prison employee named Karen Prestwood, told investigators that a few weeks earlier she’d allegedly scheduled to meet Lindley at Tractor Supply Co. to buy 100 Adderall

pills for $500, according to court records. When she got to the meeting spot, she said, she paid Lindley with a check and then went back to work.

She gave investigators the original check stub as evidence, and OIG officials later went to the local credit union for a copy of the deposited check.

The same day Lindley allegedly met up with Prestwood, court records say she also arranged to meet with another prison employee, business analyst Lonna Britt.

According to what 55year-old Britt told investigators, their interaction that day started when Lindley texted asking if they could meet. Britt responded with her work address — the TDCJ IT building on 11th Street — and Lindley allegedly replied, “usual 50 for 350.”

Around 1:30 p.m., Lindley pulled into the parking lot in a green Ford pickup and handed over the drugs, according to court records. When investigators talked to Britt about three weeks later, she gave them the remaining 38.5 tablets and copies of text messages.

Because the prison parking lot where the alleged deal went down is roughly 500 feet from a day care, the state filed charges for having narcotics in a drug-free zone and for delivering a controlled substance.

It’s not clear if Lindley — who also worked for the prison system, more than a decade ago — is represented by an attorney, and she could not be reached for comment. Prestwood and Britt also did not respond to requests for comment.

The prison system has fought the release of any personnel information relating to Brewer, Prestwood or Britt by appealing a Houston Chronicle records request to the state attorney general. Typically, the prison system releases portions of personnel and disciplinary files under the state’s open records law, and the decision to fight the release of information entirely is rare.

Brewer, the regional director, declined to comment, but OIG officials said he is not believed to be criminally involved in the case.

“Our investigation is far from complete,” said Deputy Inspector General Joseph Buttitta, “but at this time we don’t have Wayne Brewer as a suspect in a criminal investigation.”

Among the avenues investigators are probing is how long the alleged drugdealing may have been going on and whether anyone else was involved.

“We are not just saying this is it without continuing to dig; that is why the investigation is still ongoing,” Buttitta said. “We’re really not sure that we have everybody, but that’s why the investigation is continuing, and we’re going to keep going until we’re confident that we have everybody.”