SAN DIEGO (CN) — A supervisory drug counselor at a California state prison was among the eight people charged Tuesday with smuggling heroin, marijuana meth and cellphones into the prison.
Angela Carr, a supervisory drug counselor at Calipatria State Prison, was "reeking of marijuana" as she tried to enter the prison in April 2015, the U.S. Attorney's Office said.
There was nothing subtle about it, the U.S. attorney said in a statement: "She had almost a pound of methamphetamine, 4 pounds of marijuana, a quarter-pound of heroin, 409
tablets of Soma, Xanax, Valium and Norco, 212 grams of tobacco, four bottles of cough syrup and 39 cell phones."
The load had a value inside the prison of more than $1 million, U.S. Attorney Laura Duffy said. For her end of the deal, Carr made about $3,500, the prosecutor said.
Carr, 44, of Moreno Valley, is awaiting trial. Four of her co-conspirators are inmates, three of whom she "counseled."
Carr got the drugs from three women who have relationships with inmates at Calipatria, according to an FBI agent's affidavit in support of a search warrant. The women met at the parking lots in Palmdale and Moreno Valley, where Carr got the drugs concealed in bags of chips, Quaker oatmeal boxes and cookie and coffee containers, according to the affidavit.
Carr also is accused of smuggling in as many as 40 cellphones at a time into the prison.
If convicted the defendants could be sentenced to up to life in prison.
Also indicted are Ryan Hawes, 25, of Lancaster; Brittney Turner, 29, of Lancaster; Nathaniel Frazier, 28, of Los Angeles; Tameika Watts, 29, of Los Angeles; D'Mondo Burns, 26, an inmate; Brandon Carroll, 34, an inmate; and Myesha Walters, 34, of West Covina/
Only Watts and Turner remain at large.
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