Correction officers took bribes to smuggle drugs into NYC prisons, investigators say
NEW YORK -- Two New York City correction officers are among seven people charged in connection with a drug smuggling scheme at city prison facilities.
The NYC Department of Investigation announced the charges in a six-count indictment Thursday.
Court documents allege that correction officers Christian Mizell, 48, of Queens, and Carl Noel, 32, of Manhattan, received thousands of dollars in bribes to smuggle marijuana and other contraband past DOC security that would later be sold inside the prison.
Officials said Warren Green 40, of Pine City, NY, and Patrick Johnson, 27, of the Bronx, both in prison on unrelated felony offenses, arranged for the pot and contraband to be packaged and delivered covertly to the correction officers by Robert Martino (37, of Queens), Malik Holloway and Asha Patterson.
"Drug traffickers are notorious for their smuggling methods, but this case demonstrated the defendants' ability to bypass security altogether," DEA Special Agent-in-Charge James Hunt said in a news release. "With two correction officers as members of the organization, the defendants allegedly pushed contraband into prison for resale to inmates. Today's arrests are a result of law enforcement partnerships and hard work."
The DOI released this surveillance video, which shows a DOI investigator going undercover as a correction officer at the Manhattan Detention Center and Brooklyn Detention Center last September:
Here's an explanation from the DOI as to how the operation unfolded:
Throughout the operation, DOI's undercover investigator carried two scalpel blades, complete with handles and blade covers, twenty-six point eight grams of marijuana, and five strips of suboxone (a prescription opioid similar to methadone) into both MDC and BKDC. Despite DOC directives stating that all staff members must successfully pass through a magnetometer before entering a facility, DOI's undercover investigator was able to pass through all screening checkpoints - sometimes twice - without being searched or detected.
