Current:Home > ScamsMaryland prison contraband scheme ends with 15 guilty pleas-InfoLens
Maryland prison contraband scheme ends with 15 guilty pleas
View Date:2024-12-23 11:41:40
BALTIMORE (AP) — Fifteen people have pleaded guilty for their roles in a prison contraband scheme in Maryland that included the use of drones to smuggle drugs, cellphones and other items into a state prison, the state’s attorney general announced.
The guilty pleas came seven months after Attorney General Anthony Brown first announced that a correctional officer and civilians had been indicted on charges that they assisted inmates in illegal activity at the Roxbury Correctional Institution in Hagerstown, Maryland.
“Safety is as important in our correctional institutions as it is to the public in our neighborhoods and communities,” Brown said in a news release this week. “This meticulous investigation and subsequent convictions send a clear message that we will not tolerate crime or corruption within our correctional facilities that disrupts the goals of rehabilitation.”
An investigation began in April 2022, after authorities recovered drugs and other contraband that had been smuggled into the prison after an inmate returned to the facility from a hospital visit.
The AG’s investigative team “uncovered a complex web of conspiracies operating to smuggle drugs and other contraband into RCI by way of an employee, drones, and outside civilians who were recruited over social media,” according to the news release.
Last month, Brown announced additional charges against one of the RCI inmates, Jose Miguel Tapia. Tapia created a fake court commitment document and impersonated a representative from a state’s attorney’s office in an attempt to secure his unlawful early release from prison, the attorney general said.
The forged document, imprinted with the seal of the clerk of the circuit court, purported to award Tapia 449 days of credit for time served against his sentence in an effort to get him an early release, Brown said.
From his prison cell, Tapia electronically faxed the fake order to the clerk of the Circuit Court for Baltimore City and, assuming the identity of a representative from the state’s attorney’s office, called the clerk’s office to request that it be processed, according to the news release.
The clerk’s office recognized that the commitment was forged, the attorney general’s office said. Tapia was sentenced to 14 additional years.
veryGood! (76953)
Related
- Jennifer Garner Details Navigating Grief 7 Months After Death of Her Dad William Garner
- Shohei Ohtani's former interpreter pleads guilty to two counts of fraud
- 10 Cent Beer Night: 50 years ago, Cleveland's ill-fated MLB promotion ended in a riot
- Survey finds fifth of Germans would prefer more White players on their national soccer team
- MLS playoff teams set: Road to MLS Cup continues with conference semifinals
- Federal judge blocks some rules on abortion pills in North Carolina
- Zac Brown's Ex Kelly Yazdi Slams His Ill-Fated Quest to Silence Her Amid Divorce
- Stephen A. Smith fires back at Monica McNutt's blunt 'First Take' comments
- At age 44, Rich Hill's baseball odyssey continues - now with Team USA
- Man sentenced to life without parole in ambush shooting of Baltimore police officer
Ranking
- Michael Grimm, former House member convicted of tax fraud, is paralyzed in fall from horse
- Watch Live: Attorney general, FBI director face Congress amid rising political and international tensions
- Caitlin Clark, WNBA rookies have chance to 'set this league on fire,' Billie Jean King says
- NCAA tournament baseball: Who is in the next regional round and when every team plays
- 'Squid Game' creator lost '8 or 9' teeth making Season 1, explains Season 2 twist
- Texas A&M president says traditional bonfire will not return as part of renewed Texas rivalry
- Goldfish unveils new Spicy Dill Pickle flavor: Here's when and where you can get it
- Former protege sues The-Dream, accusing the hitmaking music producer of sexual assault
Recommendation
-
Republican Dan Newhouse wins reelection to US House in Washington
-
Levi Wright, 3-year-old son of rodeo star Spencer Wright, taken off life support 2 weeks after toy tractor accident
-
Ohio’s attorney general seeks to block seminary college from selling its rare books
-
Shania Twain makes herself laugh with onstage mixup: 'Really glad somebody captured this'
-
Social media star squirrel euthanized after being taken from home tests negative for rabies
-
Navy vet has Trump’s nod ahead of Virginia’s US Senate primary, targets Tim Kaine in uphill battle
-
U.S. soldier-turned-foreign fighter faces charges in Florida double murder after extradition from Ukraine
-
In their own words: What young people wish they’d known about social media