Minneapolis attorney is focus of inquiry after drug-soaked documents seized from jail inmates

A Minneapolis attorney is under investigation on suspicion of sneaking illicit drugs to inmates in the Hennepin County jail, according to newly filed court documents.

A search warrant affidavit filed Monday in District Court says Sarah Rafat Gad used her privilege as a defense attorney to avoid detection in recent months and slipped papers soaked in cocaine and fentanyl to two of her clients, who are reputed members of “The Lows” street gang. Generally, the only correspondence inmates can receive that is not examined for contraband is legal mail brought in by an attorney.

Gad, 37, has not been arrested or charged in relation to the investigation, officials with the Sheriff’s Office and County Attorney’s Office said Tuesday.

Reached by the Minnesota Star Tribune on Tuesday, Gad denied the allegations.

“I would never engage in such conduct,” she said. “I am at a loss for words.”

The jail limits in-person visits to inmates' legal counsel and law enforcement. They have access any time they wish. Others can visit via video or in person behind a screen.

The affidavit also disclosed that the Sheriff’s Office last month searched a trash bin outside Gad’s North Side home marked with her address and found liquor bottles with varying amounts of illicit drugs on them, and seized stacks of paperwork with a powdery residue on them, cocaine in a baggie and methamphetamine in an ashtray inside her townhome.

As the investigation continued Tuesday, Gad still represents the two inmates who allegedly received the drugs, according to court records.

Gad told the Star Tribune her trash bin where the drug-tainted liquor bottles were found is one of several that are fed by others in the townhome complex, therefore, “I cannot account for those. I don’t even drink. ... I recycle, first of all.”

As for the affidavit noting drug evidence in her home, Gad said, “That is not possible, [and] I was not aware of that allegation.”

Her attorney, Ryan Garry, pointed to her denials and said, “She is an excellent and well-respected attorney in the state of Minnesota.”

Gad accused Sheriff’s Office personnel of being overly aggressive during the search.

“It was shocking that they would come into my home, push me to the ground and give me a black eye,” said Gad, who added that she took a photo of her injury but declined to share it with the Minnesota Star Tribune.

In response to Gad’s allegations, a sheriff’s spokesperson said: “Deputies followed proper protocol in executing this warrant, and no injuries were reported nor was any medical assistance requested.”

State records show no actions have been taken against her by the Office of Lawyers Professional Responsibility, the body that fields complaints for potential discipline.

Gad caught Twin Cities and national media spotlight in the summer of 2023, soon after she announced her candidacy to unseat U.S. Rep. Ilhan Omar an effort that failed to get Gad’s name on the 2024 primary ballot.

The Washington Post, Politico, the Minnesota Star Tribune and other news outlets profiled Gad, who recounted her climb out of drug addiction that put her in an Illinois jail several years ago before building a legal practice that she touts as a leader in winning cases for criminal defendants.

Lyndon Wiggins, one of the inmates who allegedly received drugs from Gad during her visits, is a client of hers. He was convicted at trial of planning the 2019 kidnapping and murder of Minneapolis real estate agent Monique Baugh. However, the Minnesota Supreme Court reversed his conviction due to erroneous jury instruction and he remains jailed as the case is prosecuted anew in District Court.

In recent years, jails and prisons in Minnesota and elsewhere have used scanning technology to keep up with the tactic of smuggling mail in that is soaked with synthetic and liquid narcotics. Jails also have drug-sniffing dogs onsite.

Monday’s affidavit connects the dots from when the Sheriff’s Office first suspected the drug smuggling to implicating Gad:

Acting on information from an inmate, the investigation focused on Wiggins and Charles Valiant Kpaan Jr., who was convicted last week for felony weapons offenses.

The deputy listened to recordings of jail phone calls for both inmates and heard Kpaan say on Dec. 21, “It is in the air, keep it sealed when you get it. Don’t worry, they won’t open it.”

Gad came to the jail on Dec. 27, according to the visitation log for Wiggins. Video surveillance showed Gad giving Wiggins paperwork. Kpaan then came to Wiggins' cell and took the paperwork with him.

Jail deputies searched the area and a drug-sniffing dog hit on a bin in Wiggins' cell. Several papers in the bin were seized, with some testing positive for cocaine.

On Jan. 8, a sheriff’s detective saw that six pieces of seized paper “had unusual stains on them or appeared wrinkled as if the paper was wet and then dried.” One of the four pieces of paper came from Wiggins and tested positive for fentanyl. Another tested positive for cocaine.

Professional visit logs for Wiggins and Kpaan from Nov. 7 through Jan. 9 showed Gad as their only visitor.

“Due to this fact and the paperwork confiscated appeared to have been provided by [Gad] ... the investigation focused on [her] as being a possible source of the contraband entering the jail,” the affidavit read.

The investigation then turned to Gad’s home, where alleged evidence of illicit drugs was found inside and during searches of her trash bin that turned up two Amazon packages addressed to her and a piece of correspondence with her law firm’s letterhead.