Laura Tellers, the Colorado private investigator arrested last November on drugs charges, smuggled fentanyl and meth into Weld County Jail, concealed in documents before giving them to an inmate who then strapped them to his penis, according to a jailhouse informant.
In a newly unsealed 15-page indictment, the Greeley Police Department reveal their case against Tellers largely derives from an interview with inmate Frederick Rios, who shared a cell with Tellers’ client, Marquis Daniels. Rios told police Tellers was regularly bringing Daniels drugs.
“This transaction was occurring when Tellers would visit Daniels during their professional visit meeting at the Weld County Jail,” says the indictment.
“Tellers would receive the narcotics and then bring them in various documents addressed for Daniels. During the visit Daniels would obtain the document, retrieve the narcotics, and then strap them to his penis using a rubber band which Tellers provided him with. Once back in his cell, Daniels would typically conceal the narcotics in his anal cavity to avoid detection from law enforcement.”
The indictment says Tellers brought the drugs in on a number of occasions between August and November 2023. Rios claimed that Tellers brought in as much as two ounces of meth and 200 fentanyl pills at a time, some of which were supplied to other inmates.
“This amount . . . within an incarceration setting, allows for the potential to earn a significant monetary profit from selling these narcotics to other inmates.”
The indictment continues saying that Tellers received the drugs from a friend of Daniels, Ethen Butts, of Lakewood. Butts would deliver the drugs to an address in Fort Collins, which police say was Tellers’ home. The indictment says Rio’s girlfriend, Selenah Melendez, was also involved in the “operation.”
“Rios said Daniels told him Tellers didn’t know what she was doing with the first package, and thought she was bringing him mail, but then Tellers figured it out and asked him what it was and to be honest with her,” says the indictment. “Daniels told Tellers it was drugs, according to Rios. The narcotics were smuggled in a birthday card, glued back together, and then delivered to Tellers.”
The indictment also describes the last time Tellers allegedly brought Daniels drugs. “Rios stated the pills which came in the last delivery were very strong, so much so, inmates were overdosing on just a quarter of a pill.”
Tellers, 52, was arrested on November 17 on two counts each of intent to distribute drugs and knowingly introducing contraband.
At the time, Tellers was working as an investigator consultant for Fort Collins-based criminal and family law firm, Sedlak Law, which was defending Daniels —arrested in connection with the 2020 murder of Blaire McQueen.
In December 2020, police found 27-year-old McQueen lying dead in a back bedroom of a Greeley apartment. Plastic bags containing a white crystallized substance were also found in the room, according to records.
An autopsy indicated McQueen was shot four times, once at the base of her skull. McKenzie Prader, 25, and Marquise Daniels, 25, who previously lived with McQueen, were arrested for the murder.
On October 11, Daniels was found with meth and fentanyl in his cell. Just before midnight, police say an officer entered his cell. When Daniels rolled over to his side, the officer noticed a bag with a white powdered substance. In total, Daniels is alleged to have had 0.67 grams of fentanyl and 0.3 grams of meth in his possession.
