Former guard pleads guilty to smuggling contraband into the Jackson County jail

A former jail guard pleaded guilty Thursday to a federal charge of smuggling cell phones and other contraband into the Jackson County Detention Center.

Jalee C. Fuller, 30, of Independence, is the second of five defendants in the smuggling investigation to have entered a guilty plea in U.S. District Court in Kansas City of using a facility in interstate commerce in furtherance of unlawful activity. The government agreed to drop a second count at sentencing, according to the plea agreement.

Fuller admitted that between May 2 and June 26 of last year she conspired with two people outside the jail and to smuggle a cellphone, charger and 15 Xanax pills to an inmate at the detention center. That inmate was the father of Fuller’s child, the government has said, and is still awaiting trial along with another guard and one other person.

Fuller’s co-defendant, Marion L. Byers, 36, of Kansas City, pleaded guilty to the same offense on Dec. 6, 2017. Both face up to five years in prison without possibility of parole. Byers was on probation in an unrelated state case at the time he was arrested last summer.

The U.S. District Attorney’s office said it will ask to have whatever sentence is imposed in the federal case to run consecutive to whatever punishment the state metes out for Byers’ violating his probation agreement.

This story was originally published January 18, 2018 at 7:10 PM with the headline "Former guard pleads guilty to smuggling contraband into the Jackson County jail."