Roane County, TN (WOKI/ WVLT) – A man convicted in a 2022 double homicide is found guilty of smuggling drugs into the Roane County Jail.
District Attorney General Russell Johnson says a jury convicted Lonnie Wright of introduction of contraband into a penal facility for his role to smuggle Suboxone into the jail. The charge is a Class D felony and carries between two and 12 years in prison.
At the time of the offense, Johnson says Wright was awaiting transport to the Tennessee Department of Correction to begin serving a 33-year prison sentence for the murders of Steve Groover and Cindy Scruggs.
Officials say Wright orchestrated a plan with two other people to get the drug mailed into the jail and testimony revealed that he intended to profit from the sale of drugs while incarcerated.
Johnson says Wright will have a sentencing hearing on January 27, 2026 to determine if the sentence from this conviction will run concurrently or consecutively to his existing 33-year sentence.
