Westchester County Jail officials, including current and former corrections officers, have been indicted on bribery charges in a long-running contraband scam, prosecutors announced Thursday.
Two prison guards, a former corrections officer and two prison commissary employees have been indicted on charges they allegedly sneaked marijuana and other contraband to inmates and pocketed thousands of dollars in recent years, Westchester County District Attorney Mimi Roca said in a press release.
“The defendants placed their own profits above the safety of incarcerated individuals, staff, civilians and other corrections officers,” Roca said in a statement. “When corrections officers and other public servants accept bribes to smuggle contraband, prisons are less safe.”
The Post first reported on the bribery scheme earlier this month.
According to new details released by prosecutors, the fraud dates back to late 2021, when friends of inmates paid large bribes to prison officials to sneak prohibited items to inmates inside the prison.
According to the district attorney’s office, investigators reviewed hours of surveillance video from the visiting room and dozens of text messages and phone conversations between staff and fellow inmates.
“Tell Little Kutso I’m going to ask for another £150 for the next one on top of what he just did,” one inmate told a friend outside the prison in a phone call on Jan. 2, 2022, about the alleged payments to commissary worker Sadari Hold.
“Okay,” my friend said, “so I’m just giving it to her now and I’ll call you and let you know.”
Holt allegedly received a wire transfer of $150 later that day, prosecutors said.
Holt, 30, who worked for a contracted company providing food services for Valhalla Correctional Facility, is accused of collecting a total of approximately $1,500 between December 2021 and April 2022.
The district attorney said Holt’s security clearance was revoked on April 4, 2022, as the investigation began.
Another concession contractor, Sharday Moore, 35, was charged with collecting $500 to smuggle contraband in December 2023 and had his license revoked later that month.
Meanwhile, prison officers Peter Cumberbatch, 39, and Shakiah Smythe, 32, are awaiting dismissal proceedings following the completion of investigations by prison investigators and prosecutors.
Cumberbatch is accused of collecting $800 to smuggle prohibited items in March 2023, while Smythe is accused of accepting more than $500 in bribes between June and August 2022.
The fifth suspect, former corrections officer Wilfredo Gonzalez (36), is accused of accepting more than $2,000 in bribes between September 2022 and February 2023 and was fired on February 7, 2023.
All five were released on bail ahead of a hearing this week, charged with a variety of offences including accepting bribes and promoting the sale of prison contraband, according to prosecutors.
Under state criminal justice reform measures, neither charge is eligible for bail.
“The correctional officers involved have tarnished the shield they once wore and betrayed the trust we have in them to follow the law and serve with integrity,” Westchester County Corrections Director Joseph Spano said in a statement Thursday.
