HARRISBURG, Pa. — Six former staff members at Dauphin County Prison have been indicted by grand juries in U.S. Middle District Court for smuggling contraband items into the prison, according to U.S. Attorney David J. Freed.
One of the suspects indicted was a former correctional officer at the prison. One is a former member of the prison's kitchen staff.
The remaining four suspects indicted are a man who was an inmate in the prison at the time, his mother, the paramour of another inmate, and -- in a separate case -- the sister of an inmate, Freed said.
All were indicted on July 31.
In the first case:
- Kyle Bower, 31, of Harrisburg, is charged with smuggling contraband into the prison between October 2015 and January 2016, while he was employed there as a corrections officer.
- It is alleged that during his employment, he smuggled cellphones into the prison at the behest of inmates.
- Bower allegedly received monetary compensation for providing phones to inmates.
In the second case:
- Kamilah Lewis, 32, of Harrisburg, is also charged with smuggling cellphones into the prison at the behest of inmates.
- Lewis worked as a member of the kitchen staff between May 2013 and September 2016. During her employment, she smuggled the cellphones into the prison between April and May of 2015 in exchange for monetary compensation.
In the third case:
Danny Cruz, 42, of Harrisburg, Lizarah Matthews, 28, of York, Aida Rosado, 60, of Harrisburg, were indicted for their roles in smuggling cellphones into the prison in late 2015 and early 2016.
Cruz was an inmate at the time. Rosado is his mother, and Matthews was the paramour of another inmate.
The three are accused of conspiring to bribe corrections officers and staff to smuggle the phones into the prison. They arranged for people outside the prison to acquire the phones and pay the bribes to Dauphin County Prison staff.
The alleged payments and smuggling were facilitated by transferring money through Western Union and Moneygram, according to Freed.
In the fourth case:
Alice Martinez, 41, of Chambersburg, was indicted for her role in a cell phone and contraband smuggling conspiracy.
Martinez's brother was an inmate of the prison at the time of the alleged smuggling, which took place in 2015.
The cases were all investigated by the Federal Bureau of Investigation with the assistance of Dauphin County Prison and the Dauphin County Criminal Investigation Division.
The maximum penalty under federal law for these offenses is five years of imprisonment, a term of supervised release following imprisonment, and a fine.
