N.J. corrections officer convicted of smuggling drugs to inmates at state prison in Cumberland County
Steven Saunders, 51, of Camden, a suspended state corrections police officer, has been found guilty of smuggling drugs to inmates at the Southern Correctional Facility in Cumberland County.
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A suspended senior New Jersey correctional officer has been convicted of smuggling oxycodone, marijuana, and tobacco to inmates at a state prison in Cumberland County in exchange for money, state Attorney General Gurbir S. Grewal announced Friday.
Steven B. Saunders, 51, of Camden, was found guilty Thursday by a jury in Burlington County of conspiracy, official misconduct, bribery in official matters, acceptance or receipt of unlawful benefit by a public servant, and possession with intent to distribute oxycodone and marijuana. Superior Court Judge Gerard H. Breland set sentencing for Sept. 6. Saunders faces five to 10 years in state prison and a fine of up to $150,000 on the most serious charges, which include conspiracy, bribery, and official misconduct.
The state presented evidence that Saunders conspired with an inmate, Lakovian Shepherd, and Shepherd’s girlfriend, Tasha N. Swain, to smuggle drugs into the Southern State Correctional Facility in Maurice River Township. The prison houses about 2,000 males and sits next to Bayside State Prison.
Saunders, prosecutors alleged, received bribes in the form of payments from the inmates’ friends and relatives that were made outside the prison. Saunders charged up to $75 for a pack of loose tobacco and $1,000 for an ounce of marijuana, authorities said.
State police arrested Saunders in November 2017 after he met Swain in a parking lot in Evesham and gave her 40 grams of marijuana and 17 oxycodone pills to smuggle into the prison, along with $1,000 cash, authorities said. Saunders has been suspended since his arrest.
“Saunders betrayed his badge as well as his fellow correctional police officers at Southern State,” Thomas Eicher, director of the state Office of Public Integrity and Accountability, said in a statement Friday.
Swain, 40, of Toms River, N.J., pleaded guilty in May to third-degree distribution of a controlled dangerous substance. Shepherd, 44, who is serving a 10-year prison sentence for distribution of narcotics, pleaded guilty in February to third-degree distribution of a controlled dangerous substance. Both are awaiting sentencing.