Prison official charged with smuggling drugs into correctional institution

Rose repeatedly met with inmates and received text messages from contraband prisoner cellphones in order to coordinate the scheme.

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Accused of accepting bribes and smuggling drugs into a North Carolina prison, a case manager at Caledonia Correctional Institution was recently charged on 11 federal counts, including extortion, possession, and drug conspiracy.

Between 2018 and October 2020, Ollie Rose III, who was a case manager at Caledonia Correctional Institution, allegedly used his official position to conspire with inmates by secretly meeting with their drug suppliers and smuggling contraband into the prison for cash bribes or through an undisclosed intermediary using the mobile application, Cash App. According to the indictment, Rose repeatedly met with inmates and received text messages from contraband prisoner cellphones in order to coordinate the scheme.

On July 15, 2020, Rose allegedly met a drug supplier who provided him with marijuana in exchange for a payment of $500 via Cash App. After meeting with the supplier, Rose reportedly smuggled a portion of the marijuana into Caledonia Correctional Institution the next day and gave the drugs to the inmate.

In addition to marijuana, Rose has also been accused of smuggling other contraband into the prison, including tobacco and synthetic cannabinoids. Rose received payments ranging from $500 to $1,200 in cash or via a mobile application.

On Tuesday, the Justice Department announced that Rose was charged with 11 counts, including one count of conspiring to use a facility in interstate commerce in furtherance of unlawful activity, five counts of extortion under color of official right, one count of attempted possession with intent to distribute a controlled substance, and four counts of possession with intent to distribute a controlled substance.

The indictment stipulates that any property derived from any proceeds traceable to these drug transactions shall be forfeited to the U.S. government.

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