A South Florida criminal defense attorney has been sentenced to a year in jail after a jury found him guilty of sneaking cocaine to inmates at the Palm Beach County jail.
David Casals, who practices in Broward and Palm Beach County, was charged in 2022 with trafficking cocaine, delivery of cocaine and introducing contraband into a county detention facility after he was caught trying to bring “suspicious papers” in to an inmate, a probable cause affidavit said.
On Oct. 24 2021, Casals was checking in as a visitor at the West Detention Center in Belle Glade, and a deputy inspected a manila folder that contained 37 pieces of paper “with Bible quotes and pictures of an unknown woman” on them, the affidavit said. As the deputy looked at the “swollen” pages, she noticed stains from a see-through substance that resembled water marks.
Deputies had a briefing about “paper dope” attempting to be smuggled into the jail just a few days earlier, prosecutors wrote in a court motion filed in 2023.
Testing of all 37 pages showed a positive result of cocaine with a weight of over 136 grams. The papers did not have trace amounts but were rather “saturated with cocaine,” the affidavit said.
Casals pleaded not guilty to all charges.
A jury returned its verdict on Friday, finding Casals guilty of a lesser charge of possession of cocaine and two counts of introducing contraband into a county detention facility, court records show.
He was sentenced to a year in prison with credit time for one day, followed by three years of probation. Casals must also complete 300 hours of community service and a substance abuse evaluation and any recommended treatment.
The Florida Bar website shows Casals does not have any discipline listed under his 10-year history.
He graduated from Nova Southeastern University’s Shepard Broad College of Law in 1999 and runs a Fort-Lauderdale-based private practice, the Law Offices of David Casals, according to the profile.