He’s locked up for a Pasco murder. So how did he get a phone in his cell?

A cellphone was found in the jail cell of a Pasco murder suspect, less than 24 hours after he rejected a plea offer in court.

Nathaniel L. Thompson, 27, was using the phone to call inmates at Washington Corrections Center in Shelton, according to a court document.

It is not yet clear how he allegedly got the phone, how long he had it or how many calls were made.

“We’re trying to focus on who else he might have been contacting, if the purpose was to intimidate other witnesses and avoid monitoring from the jail phone system or (if there was) a more sinister reason for having a cellphone,” Franklin County Prosecutor Shawn Sant told the Herald.

Sant added that it is concerning with Thompson’s trial approaching April 16.

Thompson is charged in Franklin County Superior Court with premeditated first-degree murder, drive-by shooting and first-degree conspiracy to commit murder.

Now, he is being held on suspicion of possessing contraband in custody, a felony.

Prosecutors did not ask for bail since Thompson already is locked up on $1 million for the December 2016 killing of Thomas Contreras De Leon.

In that case, Thompson and his half-brother, Simeon C.E. Howard, met up with De Leon and a couple others in a Pasco neighborhood.

De Leon, 27, had wanted to settle things with a physical fight after he and Thompson argued earlier at Joker’s nightclub in Richland. De Leon ended up shot, and later died at the hospital after the bullet damaged his heart and right lung.

Howard pleaded guilty to reduced charges and was sentenced to seven years and five months in prison.

Thompson was expected to accept a similar plea. But during a Tuesday hearing with his lawyer Tracy Scott Collins of Spokane, Thompson rejected the offer from prosecutors.

The following day, a jail sergeant received a call from a Shelton prison employee about Thompson. A search of his cell turned up a Samsung flip phone and a U.S. quarter from 1980, court documents said.

Thompson declined to speak with investigators.

This story was originally published March 15, 2018 at 7:35 PM with the headline "He’s locked up for a Pasco murder. So how did he get a phone in his cell?."