Four inmates and their alleged accomplice face federal charges after authorities say they paid a guard to smuggle drugs into a North Georgia prison.
Prosecutors said the inmates bribed former corrections officer Voltaire Peter Pierre to bring methamphetamine, crack cocaine, marijuana and other contraband into Hays State Prison in Trion. The alleged smuggling operation took place over several months in 2018, according to acting U.S. Attorney Kurt Erskine.
Authorities said the inmates used contraband cellphones and sent coded messages to accomplices using the prison email system. The drugs were then dropped off at Pierre’s Norcross home and taken into the prison. The former guard smuggled the drugs into the facility by hiding them in soup containers and “other seemingly innocuous items,” authorities said previously.
Pierre was paid using a combination of prepaid debit cards and mobile payment apps, officials said. He pleaded guilty to drug trafficking charges in October 2019 for his part in the scheme, but federal prosecutors are now charging several inmates for their alleged roles.
Those charged include Jeffery Deroy Lewis, an inmate at Valdosta State Prison, as well as Octavius Henry, Alexis Jay Stokley and Khalid Eugene Mouton, inmates housed at Hays in Chattooga County. Their alleged accomplice, Jessica Corley Stokley, has also been indicted on federal drug trafficking and bribery charges, prosecutors said Friday.
All five suspects are from Atlanta and the case is being investigated by the FBI and GBI.
“These inmates allegedly smuggled drugs and other contraband into the prison, putting guards and fellow inmates in danger,” Erskine said in a news release. “By using hidden cellphones to coordinate with conspirators, they sent and received payments via payment apps and prepaid cards, and allegedly bribed at least one prison official to allow illegal drugs to enter the prison community.”
Lewis, 30, Henry, 33, Alexis Stokley, 41, and Jessica Stokley, 38, were arraigned earlier this month on charges of conspiracy to possess controlled substances with intent to distribute, possession of controlled substances with intent to distribute and conspiracy to commit bribery. Mouton, 42, has not been arraigned yet, prosecutors said.
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