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On Thursday, May 25, Maryland Attorney General Anthony Brown announced that 15 people have been charged in connection to several elaborate schemes that involved drones, hospitals, and even a staff member at the jail.
Officials said that the investigation was launched in April last year after contraband was found smuggled into the facility after an inmate returned from a hospital visit.
“The investigation unveiled a sophisticated criminal network that employed drones, a correctional officer, and a hospital, allowing the distribution of dangerous drugs, including fentanyl, and a wide array of contraband such as cell phones, tools, and other illicit items,” according to officials.
In one scheme, Jose Tapia, an inmate at RCI conspired on Instagram with two others to pay them to fly drones over the facility’s fence and drop drugs and contraband to him, including cell phones, phone charges, SIM cards, and thumb drives.
In September 2022, officers interrupted an attempted drop, leading to the arrest of Guy Austin, Jr, 30, and Miya Scott, 25, both of Baltimore.
Tapia, 36, was charged in a 10-count indictment that includes charges of contraband conspiracy and illegal possession of telecommunications device in a place of confinement.
Scott was charged in a 19-count indictment for contraband conspiracy.
Austin was hit with a 60-count indictment with charges that include:
- Contraband conspiracy;
- Possession of controlled dangerous substances with the intent to distribute;
- Attempt to deliver contraband to a place of confinement.
“Crimes committed behind locked prison gates are as much a threat to our communities as crimes committed in our neighborhoods and streets,” Brown stated.
In the second conspiracy, officials say that Temille Ashby, a 10-year veteran officer serving as a dietary correctional official at the facility smuggled drugs to inmate Jamal Brown.
According to prosecutors, In November 2022, Ashby, 33, was working an overtime shift when’s he was busted with 158 Suboxone strips that were hidden in a body cavity, which she sold for $100 a pop inside the prison.
Ashby was charged in a 14-count indictment on charges that include:
- Contraband conspiracy;
- Possession of controlled dangerous substances with the intent to distribute;
- Attempt to deliver contraband to a place of confinement.
Brown, 33, was charged in an eight-count indictment that included contraband conspiracy and illegal possession of a telecommunications device in a place of confinement charges.
The third conspiracy involved inmate Akeem Banks smuggling drugs and contraband from the bathroom at the University of Maryland Medical Center in Baltimore City into RCI.
Officials say that friends and family of other inmates would hide bundles of illicit items within the bathrooms at the hospital, which Banks would then collect and bring back to the facility.
Surveillance showed Tracy Williams (working on behalf of inmate Jason Butler) and Keith Shuford (on behalf of inmate Devin Matos) hiding the packages inside the hospital before they were brought to the prison for redistribution.
Banks, 29, was charged in a 40-count indictment for:
- Contraband conspiracy;
- Possession of fentanyl with intent to distribute;
- Possession of methamphetamine with intent to distribute.
Butler, 44, was charged with contraband conspiracy and attempt to possess contraband in a place of confinement.
Williams, of Brooklyn, was charged in a four-count indictment for contraband conspiracy.
Matos, 29, was charged in a six-count indictment for contraband conspiracy and illegal possession of a telecommunications device in a place of confinement charges.
Shuford, 26, of Waldorf, was charged with four counts of contraband conspiracy.
“Our Intelligence and Investigative team did a great job collecting information to build a strong case that we could present to our partners in the Attorney General’s Office for prosecution,” Carolyn Scruggs, the Secretary of the Maryland Department of Public Safety and Correctional Services said.
“Anytime contraband is introduced into one of our facilities, it places our staff and the incarcerated in danger. We will not tolerate contraband because it can lead to violence.”
Cell searches following the indictment also led to charges for these inmates who were found in possession of contraband:
- Denis Alvarez, 27;
- James Careton, 34;
- Jeffrey Gilmore, 41;
- Avery Perry, 31;
- Deon Warren, 28.
The arrests came weeks after 11 people were arrested in connection to a similar smuggling conspiracy at the Jessup Correctional Institution.
"Illicit controlled substances, like fentanyl, continue to flood our country at an alarming rate, and no communities or institutions are immune from its devastation, to include this correctional facility in Maryland," DEA Special Agent in Charge Jarod Forget said.
"Multi-agency collaboration is fundamental to disrupt and reduce violent, drug-related crimes, hold these offenders accountable, and ultimately ensure the safety for our neighborhoods."
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