Philadelphia

Prison Guards Smuggle Oxycontin Pills, Phones to Inmates in Exchange for Cash: Police

Six Philadelphia prison guards were indicted Wednesday for allegedly trying to deliver Oxycontin pills and cellphones to inmates in exchange for cash payments.

John Wesley Herder, 49, Bryant Fields, 43, George Kindle, 29, Marc Thompson, 23, Dupree Myers, 27, and Joseph Romano, 31, are all charged with attempted extortion and attempted distribution of controlled substances. Herder is also charged with making false statements to law enforcement officers.

Herder works at the Curran-Fromhold Correctional Facility (CFCF), Fields at the Detention Center, Kindle at the House of Corrections and Romano at the Riverside Correctional Facility. Thompson was formerly employed at the House of Corrections, Myers formerly employed at CFCF and Romano previously employed at the Philadelphia Industrial Correctional Center.

The six correctional officers, all from Philadelphia, are accused of agreeing to deliver a cellphone or pills to prisoners in exchange for cash payments between $500 and $1500. Investigators say the guards arranged meetings with the prisoners’ associates at several locations in Philadelphia between October, 2013 and December, 2014 in which they were given contraband and cash. The guards then allegedly smuggled the contraband past prison security, delivering it to an inmate.

During one meeting in which he took 100 Oxycontin pills, a cellphone and $1,000 cash from a prisoner’s associate, Herder allegedly said,  “Just tell [the inmate] to sit tight and I got it coming to him, okay,” according to the indictment.

“It is regrettable that sworn staff, who have an obligation to provide a lawful and secure environment in our jails, chose to offer their badges for sale and pervert their authority for personal gain,” said Philadelphia Prisons Commissioner Louis Giorla. “When any corrections employee engages in corrupt activity, they endanger their colleagues, those in custody, and the public.”
 

Contact Us