Eight people, including four Fulton County jail officials, have been arrested in connection to an alleged drug scandal at the jail.
Some of the defendants are accused of conspiring at separate times to obtain and distribute as much as 15 kilograms of cocaine sometime between May and June.
A federal grand jury on Thursday indicted Fulton County Sheriff's Deputy Marvie Trevino Dingle, 34, of Lithonia, along with Fulton detention officers Akil Scott, 31, of Atlanta; Derick Deshun Frazier, 31, of Morrow; and Brian Shelby Anthony, 30, of Atlanta. They are accused of funneling contraband into the Fulton County jail. Four non-jail workers also were arrested, federal officials said.
The four Sheriff's office employees were arrested by FBI agents Thursday morning during roll call.
"Some of these employees don't know what side of the bars they belong on," Sheriff Ted Jackson told reporters Thursday afternoon. "We're going to try to help them figure it out."
Approached by an Atlanta Journal-Constitution reporter after bonding out of federal detention Thursday evening, Dingle asked for directions to exit the Richard B. Russell Federal Building but declined to comment on his arrest.
Jackson wouldn't say whether last week's jail shooting and the gun involved were part of this sting, but he said neither of the employees arrested Thursday were charged with smuggling the gun.
All of the Sheriff's office workers pleaded not guilty in their first appearances before Federal Magistrate Judge Janet King, along with two civilians indicted Thursday, and the six suspects who had their first appearances were released on $25,000 unsecured bonds.
In a criminal complaint released late Thursday, the eight men were implicated in various jail smuggling plots including attempts to bring marijuana, cocaine, cell phones and cigarettes into the jail for distribution among inmates, or to sell drugs outside the jail.
FBI agents learned that Frazier accepted $700 to sneak cell phones and cigarettes into the prison, and Dingle and Scott accepted an agreement from an undercover agent to smuggle what they believed was cocaine into the jail, the complaint said.
Dingle also took money in an attempt to facilitate drug deals -- at least 500 grams of cocaine -- outside the jail, court officials said.
And Anthony accepted nearly $27,000 to arranged for four civilians dressed as Fulton County Sheriff’s Office employees -- Aqeel Muhsin Rasheed, 27, of Atlanta; Keithan Henri James, 33, of Decatur; Rayfield Lewis II, 32, of Union City, and Robert Lee Swain Jr., 29, of Snellville -- to make cocaine deliveries outside of the jail on June 2 of this year, the federal criminal complaint alleges.
But Anthony and his partners weren’t aware that the men they did business with were undercover FBI agents.
Jackson said that his office recognized a problem with jail staff sneaking in contraband as early as last summer and enlisted the help of the FBI to launch an investigation.
"We were given free rein of the jail for this investigation," said Brian Lamkin, Atlanta FBI special agent in charge.
Jackson said three of the men were hired in 2007 and another in 2009, before he enacted new staff screening procedures like psychological profiles meant to root out job applicants with criminal tendencies.
He also said new security measures, among other things, will prohibit jail employees from bringing in mobile phones and require that all staff are searched before entering the facility.
"These men took an oath to serve and protect the public," U.S. Attorney Sally Quillian Yates told reporters Thursday afternoon. "They abandoned their oaths and sold their badges by taking payoffs to smuggle contraband to inmates and facilitate illegal drug deals on the outside."
Deputies and detention officers both work at the jail, but deputies have other law enforcement duties outside the jail and are armed. Detention officers work only at the jail and are not armed.
Two of the suspects have not made their first court appearance yet. James was arrested in Memphis, and Lewis was arrested late Thursday.
Swain was a basketball stand-out at Tri-Cities High School in East Point, who signed to play for the University of Connecticut before transferring to the College of Charleston, then going on to play professional ball in Europe.
Thursday's raid comes just over a week after an inmate was shot by another inmate.
Fulton County Sheriff's spokeswoman Tracy Flanagan said the injured inmate was shot in the hand and a small gun "no larger than a mobile telephone" was found in the June 21 incident. No other inmate was injured, and the wounded inmate's injury was not considered life threatening.
The jail statement said the two inmates involved in the incident had a dispute concerning the commissary.
While the jail did not release the identity of the injured inmate, it identified the alleged shooter as Kortez Hurt, who has an extensive rap sheet, including an assortment of felony murder, aggravated assault, drug possession and theft charges.
Hurt was in the Fulton Jail on his 14th incarceration, the jail said. He will face additional charges of aggravated assault and party to a gang in connection with the shooting.
Jackson and Lamkin said the investigation is ongoing.
-- Mike Morris and John Spink contributed to this article.
About the Author
