Friday, June 27, 2008

Corrections Officer Charged with Smuggling Drugs into Jail

A Middlesex County corrections officer was arrested today in a sting operation at a Winthrop doughnut shop on charges that he ferried drugs from dealers to inmates at the jail where he worked, State Police said.

The sting came at the end of an eight-month investigation into Scott Sears, 36, of Winthrop, said David Procopio, a State Police spokesman. In October, State Police and the Middlesex Sheriff's Office heard from informants that Sears was allegedly smuggling drugs into the Billerica jail.

Sears, who had worked for the sheriff's office for two years, would allegedly meet with drug dealers, collect marijuana and heroin on behalf of the inmates, and then bring it into the jail for a fee.

Michael Hartigan, a spokesman for the sheriff's office, said he couldn’t say how long the purported scheme had operated or estimate the amount of drugs Sears had allegedly brought into the facility. “Any amount is detrimental to safety,” he said. Hartigan said that, as far as he knew, no other corrections officers were implicated in the investigation.

State Police and the sheriff’s office set up surveillance at a Dunkin’ Donuts on Revere Street. An undercover agent met with Sears and gave him a variety of drugs in a coffee cup, Procopio said. As payment, Sears received $150 and 3½ grams of cocaine for himself, he said.

As Sears left the shop, officers converged on him and placed him under arrest, Procopio said. He is being held at the Suffolk County jail on $15,000 bail.

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