Woman charged with trying to slip drug-soaked papers to boyfriend in Pittsburgh court

A Stowe woman was jailed Wednesday after, Allegheny County sheriff’s deputies said, they caught her trying to deliver drug-soaked papers to her boyfriend during his court hearing on charges involving the same type of drugs.

Alisha Hunt, 28, delivered “an envelope full of paperwork” about 8 a.m. Tuesday to a person outside Pittsburgh Municipal Court in Downtown Pittsburgh, according to a criminal complaint.

Authorities said it appeared the person, who was not publicly identified, was meant to hand the papers to Hunt’s boyfriend — Justin Allen, 24, of Stowe.

Inside the courtroom, deputies noticed Allen “continually trying to get to the envelope” during his preliminary hearing, the complaint said.

At the end of the hearing, the person told a sheriff’s deputy Allen kept asking for the envelope, but the person wasn’t sure whether the papers could be given to him.

Authorities confiscated the envelope, which contained 13 pages of thick, cotton paper sheets — described in the complaint as a “fictitious” employment contract with Allen’s name and “stained with a foreign substance.”

That substance tested positive for synthetic cannabinoids, a drug similar to marijuana.

Authorities said drug-soaked paperwork can be lit and smoked.

There are no plans to charge the person to whom Hunt handed the envelope in connection with the case, said Mike Manko, the sheriff’s spokesman.

A preliminary investigation showed, as recently as Tuesday morning, Allen and Hunt had exchanged “phone calls, messages and video calls” regarding the paperwork, according to court records.

In those conversations, Hunt “explicitly” described employment information that would be passed along to the intermediary, the complaint said.

Allen was jailed Dec. 22, 2022, after Pittsburgh police charged him with attempted homicide in connection with a 2021 shooting at a West Carson Street strip club, court records show. He has remained at the Allegheny County Jail since then, jail spokesman Jesse Geleynse said.

On April 14, authorities searched Allen’s jail cell and found paper soaked in synthetic cannabinoids, court records show. Authorities strip-searched Allen and said they found two pieces of “thick cotton fiber paper with legal text on them.”

Police charged Allen with contraband possession. His hearing Tuesday was in connection with that charge. Allen waived the hearing and will face trial in Allegheny County Common Pleas Court.

The sheriff’s office arrested Hunt on nine charges, including contraband possession, drug possession and drug delivery. She was arraigned and taken to jail early Wednesday.

Hunt’s bail is set at $25,000. She has a preliminary hearing July 3.

Allen’s jury trial in the strip club shooting is scheduled to begin July 15 in front of Common Pleas Judge Susan Evashavik DiLucente.

Attorney Patrick Thomassey, who represents Allen in the shooting case, declined to comment.