Prison Guard Arraigned on Bribery, Drug Charges
A guard at the Metropolitan Detention Center was arraigned Friday on charges that he accepted a $1,000 bribe to deliver whiskey and cocaine to an inmate.
Willie Simmons, 30, of Inglewood was arraigned on a charge of bribery and providing contraband in a prison and was released on $25,000 bail pending another hearing. Simmons’ arrest was part of an undercover sting operation with a cooperating inmate at the detention center in downtown Los Angeles.
Assistant U.S. Atty. Stephen Mansfield said Simmons agreed to call a friend of the inmate’s outside prison to arrange the pickup of cocaine and whiskey to deliver to the inmate the next day. The FBI had Simmons under surveillance when he made the call, picked up the whiskey and 14 grams of cocaine and delivered them to the inmate, Mansfield said. Simmons was arrested in the prison after delivering the contraband, the prosecutor said. The goods and money were confiscated.
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