Lawyer accused of trying to smuggle drugs into jail

INQUIRER STAFF WRITER

A Philadelphia lawyer was arrested Friday night and charged with trying to take heroin into the Delaware County jail.

Randall J. Sommovilla, 61, of the 900 block of South 11th Street, was charged with possession of contraband and drugs. He was released after posting bail.

Sommovilla was formerly with the Center City firm Ballard, Spahr, Andrews & Ingersoll.

According to court documents, he went to the jail Friday night after visiting hours to see Amber Knox, a client awaiting extradition to New Jersey. A spokesman for the Delaware County District Attorney's Office did not know what charges Knox faces.

A routine ion scan, used to detect controlled substances, was performed on Sommovilla by a guard using a wand. It registered positive, according to court documents.

The guard repeated the scan, then discovered a plastic bag on the floor near Sommovilla's feet, according to the documents. The bag contained small blue packages wrapped in a rubber band, along with pills.

The substance in the packages was heroin, and three glass pipes and cocaine were found in Sommovilla's car, according to court documents.

Police said Sommovilla told them that "some girls he met" about three months ago had introduced him to drugs. According to police, he said that Knox had called him from the jail and said she was sick and needed drugs, and that another woman, Brittany, had asked him to take drugs to Knox.

Police said Sommovilla would not acknowledge possessing the drugs. He told police, "My suspicion is that Brittany placed the drugs in [my] clothing, and when I got out to the facility Amber would convince me to give her the drugs," according to court documents.