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A U.S. District Court judge in Newark released Paul Anton Wright, 32, of Berlin, on a $100,000 unsecured bond Thursday afternoon after a brief hearing.
Between February and September 2015, Wright “received thousands of dollars in cash payments from the relative of an FCI Fort Dix inmate and subsequently delivered contraband, including K2 [synthetic marijuana], to the inmate,” U.S. Attorney Craig Carpenito said.
“According to bank records there was a $2,500 cash withdrawal from the relative’s bank account and a $2,500 deposit into Wright’s bank account the following day,” the U.S. attorney said. “There were also three phone calls between Wright and the relative during this two-day period.
“On other occasions, the cash payments were deposited into Wright’s bank accounts or used by Wright for cash buy-ins at the Borgata casino in Atlantic City,” he said.
FCI Fort Dix is a low-security federal correctional institution with an adjacent minimum security satellite camp at the Joint McGuire-Dix-Lakehurst U.S. Army base in Burlington County, about 16 miles south-southeast of Trenton.
Between October and December 2015, Wright “received thousands of dollars in cash payments from the relative of an inmate’s girlfriend,” Carpenito said.
“Wright met with this relative in Bronx, New York, on multiple occasions, and on each occasion, Wright accepted contraband and cash,” he said. “He subsequently delivered the contraband to an inmate at FCI Fort Dix.”
Carpenito credited special agents of the U.S. Department of Justice Office of the Inspector General, New York Field Division, with the investigation leading to Thursday’s arrest.
Handling the case for the government is Assistant U.S. Attorney Rahul Agarwal, deputy chief of Carpenito’s Criminal Division.
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