Former corrections officer accused of smuggling cell phones into Leavenworth prison
A former corrections officer for the privately-run federal prison in Leavenworth is accused of participating in a criminal conspiracy that allegedly involved smuggling cell phones into the prison that were later sold to prisoners.
Angelica Grant, who was a CoreCivic employee assigned to the Leavenworth Detention Center between May 2018 and May 2020, is named in a criminal complaint filed Monday in the U.S. District Court in Kansas City, Kansas, alleging a single felony count of conspiracy.
The charges state that by virtue of her position at the prison, Grant was a public official.
Grant is among several ex-Leavenworth prison guards who have been accused of smuggling contraband into the privately-run federal prison. In December, Willie Golden was charged with conspiracy. In September, Cheyonte Harris of Raytown and Jacqueline Sifuentes of Laredo, Texas, were indicted by a federal grand jury on accusations they smuggled contraband into the prison.
Golden, Harris and Sifuentes pleaded guilty earlier this year.
According to the charging documents, the government alleges that Grant conspired with others to receive bribes offered by prisoners to smuggle cell phones and other contraband into the prison.
An unnamed inmate used a phone to communicate regularly with Grant and evade the monitoring of the prison’s telephone system, according to court documents.
When Grant left the prison in May 2020, she allegedly got another public official to smuggle contraband into the prison for the inmate in exchange for money.
Grant allegedly would provide the other official cell phones disguised within fast food containers and gave instructions how to smuggle them into the prison. Grant is accused of paying the official in both cash and on Cash App, an app that allows users to transfer money to one another. The inmate then could sell the cell phone to other inmates, according to the court documents.
Between February and May of 2020, Grant allegedly purchased at least 20 cell phones for the official to smuggle into the prison to the inmate on at least five occasions. Grant allegedly received at least $500 for every two or three cell phones that were smuggled inside.
To facilitate the distribution of the contraband by the inmate, Grant allegedly repeatedly used the app to send and receive at least $42,426 in payments to and from other inmates and their associates, according to court documents.
This story was originally published March 1, 2022 at 1:48 PM.
