November 23, 2021 - 4:08 PM
ANCHORAGE, Alaska (AP) — An Alaska correctional officer has pleaded guilty to charges she helped smuggle drugs and cell phones that had been dropped into her yard to a prison inmate convicted of two counts of murder, authorities said Tuesday.
Angela Lincoln, 43, was charged with conspiracy and bribery charges for smuggling Suboxone strips and cells phones to the inmate serving a l00-year sentence at Goose Creek Correctional Center near Wasilla, the U.S. Attorney’s office said in a statement.
Lincoln was paid her just under $30,000 for assisting the inmate, who was not named in court documents, for just about a year, beginning in July 2019.
Authorities said the inmate’s friends and family arranged to deliver the contraband and cash payments to the correctional officer. Sometimes they hid the drugs or other contraband inside books, plastic bottles or candy wrappers and dropped them near the fence of her property when no one was looking.
She would then take the drugs or other contraband to the prison, bypassing security screenings because of her job.
In return, associates of the inmate would pay Lincoln by delivering cash, money orders or wire transfers hidden in phony greeting cards, trinkets and stuffed animals.
Lincoln faces up to 15 years in prison when she is sentenced at a later date.
“My client and I have no comment at this time,” said Lincoln's federal public defender, Jane Imholte.
News from © The Associated Press, 2021