NEW YORK (WCBS 880) — Two Department of Correction officers conspired with inmates at Rikers Island to smuggle drugs, cellphones and other contraband into the jail for thousands of dollars in payment, federal prosecutors announced Tuesday.
The two officers, Krystle Burrell and Katrina Patterson, were arrested Tuesday morning and charged in separate complaints by the U.S. Attorney’s Office in Brooklyn. Along with Burrell and Patterson, four other defendants were charged in the alleged scheme.
Both officers accepted hefty sums of money for the products. Prosecutors said Patterson garnered more than $34,000 in bribes to bring contraband, which included drugs, to a supposed Bloods gang member being held at the jail. Burrell accepted nearly $10,000 in bribes to move contraband within the prison–bringing phones to another Rikers inmate and then helping that inmate sell contraband to others.
If convicted, Burrell and Patterson face up to five years in prison.
The arrests are a part of an ongoing investigation by the NYPD, Department of Homeland Security and the NYC Department of Investigation into correction officer involvement in bribes-for-contraband rings, prosecutors added.
Related
Related
Related
