A former Fulton County sheriff’s deputy accused of trying to smuggle cocaine into the Fulton County Jail pleaded guilty Tuesday to the charges in U.S. District Court in Atlanta.
Marvie Trevino Dingle, 34, of Lithonia was accused of accepting $300 from an undercover agent to smuggle a balloon filled with cocaine to an inmate in the jail.
Dingle also took money in an attempt to facilitate drug deals outside the jail, according to authorities. He tried to move a kilogram of cocaine from south Atlanta to Dunwoody for a $1,500 payment from an undercover agent.
Allegedly helping Dingle in the cocaine-smuggling scheme was Fulton detention officer Akil Scott, 31, of Atlanta.
Dingle and Scott were among eight people arrested earlier this year in connection with the alleged scandal at the jail. The suspects were implicated in various 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.
Both deputies and detention officers have been caught up in the contraband sting launched by Sheriff Ted Jackson. 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.
Jackson called the FBI to investigate the jail after his office recognized a problem with jail staff sneaking in contraband as early as last summer. The FBI, Jackson’s former employer, was given free rein of the jail to conduct its investigation.
Last month, former detention officer Derick Deshun Frazier pleaded guilty to charges that he accepted bribes to sneak cell phones and cigarettes into the prison.
Dingle faces a Jan. 24 sentencing.
-- Staff reports and The Associated Press contributed to this report.
About the Author
