A Toledo, Ohio-area man who sent books to Ohio prisons with pages soaked in drugs, including Vice President JD Vance's "Hillbilly Elegy" memoir, will now have to receive his own mailed reading material after a federal judge sentenced him to more than a decade in prison.

Austin Siebert, of Maumee, pleaded guilty on Nov. 18 in U.S. District Court in Cleveland to possession of methamphetamine with the intent to distribute and being a felon in possession of a firearm. U.S. District Court Judge Donald Nugent sentenced him to 140 months, or 11 years and eight months, in federal prison.

According to court records, Siebert sent several books to inmates at Ohio prisons with pages soaked with drugs in November and December 2024.

One of the books was Vance's "Hillbilly Elegy," a memoir discussing Vance's mother's opioid addiction. Siebert called that book, which was sent to the Grafton Correctional Institution in a package with a GRE study guide, a "(expletive) romance novel" in a recorded call with a prison inmate.

Siebert used the "Amazon method" to soak several pages of the book. Ohio prisons will only accept books purchased from pre-authorized stores, like Amazon and Barnes & Noble, with proof of purchase.

Court records say in schemes like Seibert's, items are purchased so a receipt can be printed, and then the order is canceled. A different copy of the ordered materials has pages soaked in drugs, which is then repackaged and sent to the prison in a way that looks like it is from the original vendor.

According to court records, Siebert reached out to inmates he knew at the Allen/Oakwood Correctional Institution in Lima and the London Correctional Institute, asking if they wanted to get involved in his scheme. Siebert said he was making his own equipment so he could rebind books more efficiently after soaking pages with drugs.

In addition to recorded phone calls and written messages, prison officials noticed discolored pages in books sent to inmates by Siebert in packages.

When Siebert's home was searched, police found a book binding machine, Amazon mailing labels, fentanyl, cocaine, a loaded handgun and at least one book with pages that were soaked in drugs, court records say.

Reporter Bethany Bruner can be reached at bbruner@dispatch.com or on Bluesky at @bethanybruner.dispatch.com.

This article originally appeared on The Columbus Dispatch: Man sentenced for sending drug-soaked JD Vance memoir to Ohio prisoners

Reporting by Bethany Bruner, Columbus Dispatch / The Columbus Dispatch

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