Ex-Leavenworth prison guard accused of smuggling tobacco, cell phones to prisoners
A former corrections officer for the privately-run federal prison in Leavenworth is accused of participating in a criminal conspiracy alongside other officials that allegedly involved trafficking tobacco, marijuana and cell phones to prisoners.
Willie Golden, an employee assigned last year to the prison operated by CoreCivic, is named in a criminal complaint filed this week in the U.S. District of Kansas alleging a single felony count of conspiracy. Court papers detail at least two other unnamed public officials accused of taking part in the operation.
Golden was placed on administrative leave and resigned before the investigation concluded, CoreCivic spokesman Matthew Davio said.
Golden’s attorney has not responded to a request for comment.
According to the complaint, the government contends there is proof that the trafficking operation ran from April through November 2020. It involved bribes offered by prisoners to corrections officers for the smuggling of contraband from the outside.
Payments were allegedly made to correctional officers through Cash App, a mobile service that supports financial transactions between account holders.
During his time as a correctional officer, Golden allegedly received $7,370 for smuggling contraband to eight prisoners referred to in court records under descriptors, such as “Inmate 1.” The amounts ranged from $50 to $2,000 apiece. Some of the Cash App payments included notes describing what the transactions were for, court records state.
For example, one payment of $250 contained the note: “1 carton Newport long,” the complaint alleges. Another simply said “delivery.”
Some of those payments were allegedly made to Golden by two public officials, possibly correctional officers, whose names are undisclosed in court records. Those totaled about $3,270 and are tied to specific dates where contraband was allegedly smuggled into the prison.
CoreCivic is the country’s biggest private prison operator, which works under a contract through the U.S. Marshals Service. The prison is scheduled to close later this month following an executive order by President Joe Biden directing contracts with private prisons to close by the end of the year.
Davio said its top priority is the safety of staff and prisoners.
“CoreCivic has a zero-tolerance policy for the introduction of contraband into our facilities and we will always work with our law enforcement partners to take swift action to address this type of behavior,” he said in a statement.
In a separate criminal indictment filed in September, two other former corrections officers were charged with smuggling contraband into the Leavenworth Detention Center. They are Cheyonte Harris, 29, of Raytown, and Jacqueline Sifuentes, 25, of Laredo, Texas.
This story was originally published December 9, 2021 at 9:42 AM.
