Former corrections officer accused of attempted drone delivery of drugs to Lawton prison

A former corrections officer is wanted after investigators said he was attempting to drop contraband into the Lawton Correctional Facility (LCF) via drone.

The Comanche County District Court issued a felony arrest warrant for Willie Foster Jr., 37, of Sherman, Texas, for counts of conspiracy to commit bringing contraband into a prison, attempting to bring drugs into a penal institution, and unauthorized entry into jail/prison, records indicate.

The allegations begin shortly after 4:30 a.m. July 15 when a drone detection alert sent investigators into overdrive. After reviewing its flight path, it was learned the drone didn’t make it onto the prison property, 8607 SE Flower Mound, the warrant affidavit states. The drone stopped at the beginning of a no fly zone over the prison that’s built into the drone software, Oklahoma Department of Correction (ODOC) Agent Trafis Crawford stated.

Crawford learned the same drone was detected at the prison again shortly before 7:30 a.m. July 22. It was learned a vehicle was parked on Baseline Road, one mile southeast of LCF, and was identified as the launch area of the drone, according to the affidavit. Crawford and another corrections officer went to the location and found a white four-door vehicle backed into an open gate off the roadway with its headlights off.

When told to show his hands, the driver was seen getting in and began to drive away before he stopped. The driver was identified as Foster.

Foster told Crawford he’d been airing up a flat tire. Crawford stated he saw a black case in the passenger seat that appeared to be used to protect a drone. A paper sack containing loose grass clippings was in the floorboard, the affidavit states. Loose grass clippings are often used with glue on the outside of contraband to camouflage the package once inside the prison recreation yard, for example, according to the investigator.

Foster was detained. He told Crawford he come from Texas to visit his girlfriend but didn’t know her address or where she lived, only that it was about 30 minutes away, according to the affidavit. He said another man named “Tyler” sometimes uses his vehicle to do things he is not supposed to do and suggested “Tyler” could be in the field with a drone, Crawford stated. He said he’d found the vehicle parked with a low tire but couldn’t explain how he’d gotten there.

Foster claimed he didn’t know where the prison was even though “we could see the LCF prison lights from our location,” Crawford stated. He denied using a drone or attempting to get contraband into the prison, the affidavit states. Foster denied investigators the right to search the vehicle and claimed it wasn’t his, it was his aunt’s. He said he was staying at a Lawton hotel.

Law enforcement was unable to locate the drone. Foster was told he was free to leave however the vehicle was being secured and his cellphone seized pending a court order, according to the affidavit. It was secured and impounded.

Later, Crawford stated he learned that Foster, a former ODOC corrections officer, had been arrested in Comanche County in September 2022 for marijuana possession.

Once a search warrant was obtained on July 31, the vehicle was searched and investigators found a bag wrapped in black tape and grass clippings containing two ounces of marijuana, 10 marijuana vape pens, and a drone case containing two batteries, two spare drone wings, a charging cable and a block, the affidavit states. A drone controller was also found covered with a blanket in the back seat and a drone battery found in the center console, Crawford stated. A cash app and Chime card with Foster’s name on them were seized from the vehicle as well, the affidavit states.

A $20,000 cash warrant bond was issued upon Foster’s arrest.