2 former Leavenworth officers plead guilty to smuggling tobacco, marijuana, cell phones
Two former correctional officers at the Leavenworth Detention Center have pleaded guilty to conspiracy for smuggling contraband into the prison, according to federal prosecutors.
One of them, Willie Golden, 28, of Overland Park, pleaded guilty Friday for participating in the criminal scheme alongside other officials that allegedly involved trafficking tobacco, marijuana and cell phones to prisoners at the privately run federal prison in eastern Kansas.
The trafficking operation ran from April through November 2020, prosecutors said. 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, according to court documents.
Golden was placed on administrative leave and resigned before the investigation concluded, a CoreCivic spokesman previously told The Star. He will be sentenced May 17 and faces up to five years in prison, prosecutors said.
Another former officer, Janna Grier, 36, of Horton, Kansas, also pleaded guilty last week to conspiracy.
In a plea agreement, Grier admitted to using her position as a public official to smuggle tobacco and what she later learned was synthetic cannabinoids into the detention center.
In November, Grier sent a person listed in court records as “Public Official 1” a text message that said a prisoner wanted that person to meet them in “the hole,” according to court records.
“Pretty much he wants to know if you can bring him some smokes like I was,” she wrote. “No one knows I was and no one will. I got all these at the house so you wouldn’t have to buy anything and if you want some (money symbol) he can do that.”
Grier faces five years in prison when she is sentenced April 28.
In a separate criminal indictment, two other former corrections officers were charged with smuggling contraband into the prison. They are Cheyonte Harris, 29, of Raytown, and Jacqueline Sifuentes, 25, of Laredo, Texas.
The prison has recently come under scrutiny for the violence that has unfolded inside. A judge last year said it had become a “hell hole,” the Missouri Independent reported.
This story was originally published January 31, 2022 at 12:15 PM.
