Three face charges related to effort to smuggle cell phone equipment into jail
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MOBILE, Alabama (WALA) — A now-fired Mobile County corrections deputy, a convicted murder and that defendant’s wife have been indicted on charges relating to an alleged contraband-and-bribery scheme at the county’s lockup.
The indictments and authorities allege that Prichard resident Danell Michael Davis, who pleaded guilty to murder last year and is awaiting sentencing, arranged for a cell phone, charger and batteries to be sent to him.
Mobile County Chief Assistant District Attorney Keith Blackwood told FOX10 News that Davis, 29, paid $500 to Taeric Montez Sims, 26, a corrections deputy who since has been fired.
“The payment was conducted via cash app, which would been done via a cell phone,” he said.
Sims agreed to meet Davis’ wife, Shakera Annquell Richardson, 27, in the Mobile County Metro Jail parking lot to pick up the cell phone equipment, Blackwood said.
An arraignment is set for May 19 in Mobile County Circuit Court. All three defendants face charges of promoting prison contraband and bribery, Class C felonies punishable by one to 10 years in prison upon conviction.
Christine Hernandez and Bucky Thomas, attorneys for Sims and Richardson, respectively, declined to comment.
Metro Jail Warden Trey Oliver said it is a constant challenge to keep weapons, drugs and other contraband out of the hands of prisoners. He said he has had to fire “well over a dozen” employees and contractors during his 12 years on the job for helping inmates get prohibited items.
“It’s a huge problem all over,” he said.
Oliver told FOX10 News that corrections officers have caught people scaling razor-wire fences and inmates fashioning ropes from sheets to lift items through broken windows.
“We’ve always thought about trying to stop people from breaking out of jail, not breaking into jail,” he said.
Oliver said it is such a problem because demand for the banned items is high in jails. He said the going rate for a cell phone is anywhere from $500 to $1,500 and that inmates will pay as much as $20 for a single cigarette.
“People take chances, and they’re very savvy about it,” he said.
Blackwood said his office has prosecuted a number of people over the years for smuggling contraband into prisons and that “a fair number of them” have been jail employees.
“The Sheriff’s Office is constantly investigating this, keeping an eye out for it,” he said. “They do a good job at it. It’s something that exists in every correctional facility.”
While cell phones may not be as serious as weapons or drugs, Blackwood said it is nothing to take lightly.
“It’s very dangerous to have a cell phone in an inmate environment,” he said. “The cell phones are used to conduct transactions for drugs, to bring drugs and other contraband into the jail. This is an ongoing problem in every correctional facility with drugs, weapons, and cell phones used to set all that up.”
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