Overview
- U.S. District Judge Donald C. Nugent imposed the sentence on November 18 following Austin Siebert’s conviction.
- Court filings say Siebert sprayed narcotics onto pages of 'Hillbilly Elegy,' a 2019 GRE Handbook, and a separate sheet before sending them to Grafton Correctional Institution.
- Investigators cited a recorded call in which an inmate asked, “Is it Hillbilly?” and Siebert ultimately acknowledged the book while dismissing it as a “(expletive) romance novel.”
- Siebert, 30, is from Maumee, southwest of Toledo, according to the charging documents.
- Coverage underscored the contrast between the memoir’s focus on addiction and its use as a delivery vehicle for contraband, noting the book’s bestseller status and film adaptation.