Tuesday, February 01, 2005
Wakulla prison guard facing drug charges
Yep, the tide is turning.
Wakulla prison guard facing drug charges
DEMOCRAT STAFF WRITERA guard who's accused of trying to smuggle drugs into a state prison was arrested after he accepted a package of marijuana and cocaine at a Tallahassee post office, authorities said.
Timothy James Ford, a Department of Corrections employee for eight years, was arrested Friday, said Leon County Sheriff's Office spokesman Chris Chase.
Ford was terminated from his job at Wakulla Correctional Institution following the arrest, said Sterling Ivey, a spokesman with the state's Department of Corrections.
"Our Inspector General's office learned that Officer Ford was possibly involved in smuggling drugs into the prison," Ivey said Monday evening. The DOC inspectors got a tip from an inmate within the Florida prison system, he said. The inspectors followed Ford on Friday, he said, and watched as he left work and went to the Centerville Road Post Office and picked up the package. He was immediately arrested.
The Sheriff's Office did not release Ford's photo or his address because under Florida law, photos and other personal information about active or former law-enforcement personnel are exempt from release.
According to a Sheriff's Office report, here's what happened:
On Thursday, Department of Corrections inspectors listened to a recorded phone conversation between a Wakulla Correctional Institution inmate, his girlfriend and his mother. In the conversation, the girlfriend said she wrapped up and mailed the package. She gave the tracking number.
A DOC inspector found the package on the United States Postal Service Web site and noted its location. A Postal Service inspector discovered that the package was addressed to Ford.
During a search of it Friday, law-enforcement officers found about a half pound of marijuana in a large Ziplock bag and a small amount of powder and crack cocaine in two sandwich-size bags. The street value of the marijuana would be about $2,000, but it could be worth four times that much in prison, Chase said.
By 4 p.m. Friday, officers from the Sheriff's Office, the Tallahassee Police Department, the United States Postal Inspector and DOC waited for Ford to come to the post office to get the package, records show. At about 5 p.m., he arrived and signed for it. He was arrested at the front door.
When he was interviewed at the Sheriff's Office, he told deputies he oversaw between 600 and 800 inmates while working at the prison's recreation yard. Ford said he did not use illegal drugs.
Ford said he knew of and had spoken with the inmate who was recorded by authorities. He did not confess to any crimes before ending the interrogation and asking for an attorney.
"Inmates know we have the ability to record all the phone calls," Ivey said. "It's a great investigative tool. We monitor (calls) whenever we have reason to believe something is going on - like a plan to bring drugs into the system or an escape plan."
Ford bonded out Friday, Chase said. He faces charges of possessing marijuana and cocaine, and conspiracy to introduce contraband into a correctional facility. The Sheriff's Office expects to make additional arrests, Chase said.
http://www.tallahassee.com/mld/tallahassee/news/10783672.htm?template=contentModules/printstory.jsp
MTWT on DRUGS IN PRISON
http://www.angelfire.com/fl3/starke/drugs.htmlMTWT on WAKULLA CI
http://www.angelfire.com/fl4/prison/wakulla.html