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Waldorf resident Danielle Dominique Smith, 34, will spend time on the other side of the bars after being sentenced to four months in prison, followed by four months of home detention after she was in an intimate and sexual relationship with an inmate who smuggled contraband into the Prince George’s County Department of Corrections Detention Facility.
According to her guilty plea, between November 2009 and April 2022, while working as a correctional officer, Smith developed a romantic relationship with inmate Avante Daquan Lee, which was discovered through recorded jail calls that were later found by investigators.
Prosecutors say that during that time, Smith conspired with her boyfriend and others to distribute Suboxone and synthetic marijuana (K2), which were concealed on special diet food trays that were designed for him specifically.
Once Lee received the food tray, he would distribute the drugs to others in the facility, who then had friends or family send Smith money for the controlled substances.
Smith and the inmate discussed the distribution of the drugs on recorded jail calls, referring to the controlled substances as "food products" in an effort to conceal the nature of the conversation until they were busted by investigators.
In September 2021, there was a search of Lee's cell which led to the recovery of white paper with K2, and another inmate was later busted with a bottle containing 395 strips that were found to contain Suboxone.
As part of her plea, Smith took a pre-approved leave of work in February last year, though a month later, on the day she was scheduled to return to the job, she was recorded talking to her boyfriend on a jail call about “bringing the ‘meals,’” to which she confirmed.
She was suspended that day.
Smith pleaded guilty to conspiracy to distribute and possess with intent to distribute a controlled substance. In addition to her sentence, a judge also ordered that Smith service three years of supervised probation.
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