Philadelphia prison guards charged with drug, phone smuggling

(Reuters) - Six Philadelphia-area correctional officers smuggled drugs and mobile phones to inmates in various jail facilities for cash, federal prosecutors said in court documents unsealed on Wednesday.

Four current and two former guards each face potential prison sentences between 40 and 80 years and also could be subject to other penalties, including fines, if they are found guilty.

Each defendant is charged with attempted extortion and attempted distribution of controlled substances. One guard, John Wesley Herder, allegedly gave a false statement to federal law enforcement agents.

The guards allegedly met with associates of the inmates at locations in Philadelphia where they would hand over the contraband and the cash. In exchange for cash payments, ranging from $500 to $1,500 per transaction, the guards allegedly smuggled mobile phones and OxyContin, a prescription pain medication pill, to prisoners at four different locations between September 2013 and December 2014.

The prisons were the Curran-Fromhold Correctional Facility, The Detention Center, The House of Corrections and the Philadelphia Industrial Correctional Center, the statement said.

Indictments from the office of U.S. Attorney for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania Zane David Memeger allege Herder, Bryant Fields, George Kindle, Marc Thompson, Dupree Myers, and Joseph Romano with the crimes.

"Prison guards who violate security procedures by smuggling drugs and other contraband to inmates undermine that safety and make an inherently dangerous environment more dangerous," Memeger said in the statement.

The lengthy investigation, spurred by a growing number of contraband seizures in the prisons, was carried out by the Philadelphia Department of Corrections, the Philadelphia Police Department's Prison Intelligence Group and the Federal Bureau of Investigation.

(Reporting By Daniel Bases; Editing by Bill Trott)

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