Three Rikers Guards Indicted for Smuggling Cocaine and Oxycodone Into the Jail
Anna Merlan
The correctional officer-jail inmate relationship is often a fraught one, rife with resentment, misunderstandings and violence. But sometimes, just sometimes, the two groups can put aside their differences and work together. That's the silver lining we can take from the news that two current Rikers COs, Steven Dominguez and Divine Rahming, have been charged with smuggling cocaine and oxycodone into the prison with the help of an inmate and his girlfriend. Another former Rikers guard, Deleon Gifth, who resigned earlier this year, was arrested Monday on charges that he was paid $500 to deliver what he thought was oxycodone to an inmate back in February.
If you feel like you're hearing about more arrests of guards at Rikers lately, you are: the New York City Department of Investigation, Department of Correction, a special "Strike Force" within the Drug Enforcement Agency's local office, and a New York City special narcotics prosecutor have been using wiretaps to investigate allegations of drug trafficking and various other sorts of corruption at the jail complex for five months. They've dubbed it "Operation Correction Connection," and it's been fruitful: in June, two officers and 20 inmates were arrested on smuggling charges.
http://blogs.villagevoice.com/runninscared/2014/07/divine_rahming_steven_dominguez_deleon_gifth_yasel_suarez_george_ramos_rikers_cocaine_oxycodone.php
= new reply since forum marked as read