JD Vance Memoir Was Used to Smuggle Drugs Into Ohio Prison

Vice President JD Vance's memoir Hillbilly Elegy, chronicling the impacts of drug addiction, was recently used to smuggle drugs into an Ohio prison. The book was one of three items that 30-year-old Austin Siebert of Maumee, Ohio, soaked with narcotics and mailed to Grafton Correctional Institution, disguised as Amazon purchases, the AP reports. The other items included a 2019 GRE Handbook and a piece of paper, per court documents. The plot unraveled after authorities recorded a conversation between Siebert and an inmate discussing the drug-laced shipments. However, Siebert appeared oblivious to the subject of Hillbilly Elegy, referring to it as a "romance novel."

The Columbus Dispatch previously described a process in which a person places an order through Amazon, printing a legitimate receipt or mailing label, before canceling the order. The person then ships the listed items, which have been "soaked with drugs, in many instances synthetic marijuana." Court records indicate the last 10 pages of Hillbilly Elegy tested positive for two synthetic cannabinoids, per the Dispatch. Prosecutors said Siebert was discovered with suspected drugs and a book-binding machine. He was sentenced last week to more than 11 and a half years in prison.