Three Indicted For Mailing “Letters Soaked With Meth” to Potter County Inmate

Three Amarillo area residents have been indicted for their part in a "mini-drug trafficking ring".

The eyebrow-raising tale graced the area's headlines on January 20, when a statement issued by the Potter County Sheriff's Office revealed that they had discovered that an inmate had been receiving "letters soaked with narcotics (methamphetamine)".

Authorities launched an investigation and found that Colt Davis Yarbrough, 28, and Cheyanne Summer Catalina Wakefield,, 28, had sent the speedy correspondence to Potter County Detention Center through USPS mail to an inmate identified as Colton Gene Pullen.

A warrant was executed the following day at a home in Canyon. After a brief-but-noisy SWAT stand-off, Wakefield and Yarbrough were arrested and booked into Randall County jail on various charges.

An indictment for both was handed down on March 22. Yarbrough has remained in Randall County on a parole violation warrant. Wakefield was released on bond the same week.

Three months later, Wakefield was arrested on a bond surrender warrant on April 20 after missing a court date for a charge of intentionally abandoning a child out of Potter County. She remains in Potter County Detention Center as of this writing.

Back to Potter County

The inmate who was the recipient of the wrinkly letters was identified as Colton Pullen by authorities.

Pullen is one of three men charged in the March 26, 2021 shooting death of 23-year-old Trevor Riley in north Amarillo. Officials with the Potter County Sheriff's Office indicated that Pullen would be charged for his part in the 'meth mail' operation. He was indicted on March 31 for the charges:

• Prohibited Substance in a Correctional Facility, enhanced- Third Degree Felony, punishable between two to 10 years in prison and a fine of up to $10,000.
• Manufacture/Delivery of Controlled Substance PG 1 (4G - 200G), First Degree Felony, punishable between five years to 99 years in prison and a fine up to $10,000.

The new charges have undoubtedly caused some turmoil for Pullen. The inmate had initially been charged with capital murder, as were his co-defendants, Ricky Lee Peebles and Brent Bernard Smith. But in a recent turn of events, the capital murder charges for all three men have been dismissed and each were re-indicted on a charge of first degree murder.

Co-defendant Ricky Peebles was recently sentenced to 35 years in TDCJ as part of a plea bargain that saw the conclusion of the murder charge and additional pending charges. While Pullen no longer faces a capital murder conviction, the uproar caused by those pesky meth-soaked letters could have a bearing on his upcoming legal proceedings.