Illegal Narcotics and a Smart Phone Seized by Law Enforcement Officers
Three criminal complaints were unsealed today in federal court in Brooklyn, New
York, charging 21 defendants with conspiring to bribe correction officers employed by the New
York City Department of Corrections (“DOC”) as part of narcotics smuggling conspiracies.
Three defendants remain at large. The initial appearances for 12 of the defendants are scheduled
for this afternoon before United States Magistrate Judge Ramon E. Reyes, Jr.
Richard P. Donoghue, United States Attorney for the Eastern District of New
York, William F. Sweeney, Jr., Assistant Director-in-Charge, Federal Bureau of Investigation,
New York Field Office (FBI), and Margaret M. Garnett, Commissioner, New York City
Department of Investigation (DOI), announced the charges.
“The corruption of correction officers presents a security risk to the entire jail
population, and a potential danger to the residents of our communities,” stated United States
Attorney Donoghue. “We will continue to aggressively investigate and prosecute those who
place their personal enrichment over the public duties they have sworn to perform.” Mr.
Donoghue thanked Homeland Security Investigations, New York, and the New York City Police
Department for their assistance in the investigations.
“The correction officers charged today allegedly accepted bribes to sneak
contraband onto Rikers Island—propagating behavior that has the potential to harm other
officers and prisoners alike. The smuggling of contraband into our jails is a common Hollywood
storyline, but while there’s an element a fiction in many a screenplay, there’s nothing fake about
this real-life threat to our correctional facilities. Along with our partners at the DOI, we are
dedicated to confronting this issue head-on,” stated FBI Assistant Director-in-Charge Sweeney.
"Contraband smuggling enterprises have long plagued City jail facilities. The
arrests today are another example of a pattern in which inmates and outside conspirators identify correction officers vulnerable to corruption, and use them to carry drugs and other illegal
substances into the jails,” stated DOI Commissioner Garnett. “These schemes threaten the safety
of fellow officers and other inmates, and undermine order and discipline in the City’s jails. DOI
will continue to prioritize safety and integrity in the jails, and continue to relentlessly pursue
those who threaten it. DOI thanks its partners at the Office of the U.S. Attorney for the Eastern
District of New York and the FBI for their partnership in the pursuit of these individuals charged
today in our shared effort to root out criminal activity in the City's correction system."
Since early 2019, the FBI and DOI have been investigating contraband rings
involving the payment and receipt of bribes by DOC officers in exchange for transporting
marijuana, the narcotic Suboxone and K2 (a synthetic cannabinoid) and an unauthorized smart
phone into the George R. Vierno Center and the Otis Bantum Correctional Center on Rikers
Island.
As set forth in the complaints, the defendants conspired to smuggle the
contraband into Rikers Island facilities with the assistance of New York City Correction Officers
Darrington James, Patrick Legerme, Aldrin Livingston, Michael Murray, Angel Rodriguez and
Christopher Walker. Defendants James Albert, Clarence Brooks, Kyle Charles, John
Mohammed and Christopher Rivas, who were incarcerated for unrelated offenses, arranged for
marijuana and other contraband to be packaged and secretly delivered to those correction officers
by defendants Celena Burgess, Veronica Jagdeo, Jorcetta King, Aboudou Krigger, Jonathan
Medina, Styles Shephard and Tony West. The defendant correction officers allegedly received
thousands of dollars in bribes to smuggle the drugs past DOC security, for distribution inside the
Rikers Island facilities.
As a part of their investigations, law enforcement officers reviewed financial
records related to online money transfer tools, such as CashApp, conducted surveillance and
reviewed recorded telephone calls made by defendants who used coded language in their
conversations. For example, on February 19, 2019, an inmate at the Vierno facility called a coconspirator to discuss supplying the inmate and Albert with marijuana: “I’m trying to get, um
four ‘Oakland Raider jerseys’ [code for marijuana]. “…’Got Pink Panties’ [code for correction
officer] on the line right now, you heard? Gangsta. You just gotta make it to the ‘Jungle’ [code
for Brooklyn] to drop it off to them and, more or less, we lit from there.” In recorded telephone
calls between Rivas and a co-conspirator in October 2019, Rivas requested a ‘joint’ [code for a
cellular telephone] with a Facetime application. In a subsequent telephone conversation, Rivas
asked West whether the joint is a Size 5 or Size 6 [code for iPhone 5 or iPhone 6], and West
replied that it was a Size 6, referring to an iPhone 6 that was delivered to the Vierno facility the
previous night.
On October 25, 2019, a DOC Special Search Team seized an iPhone 6 and an
iPhone charger from Rivas’s laundry bag and 12 clear plastic bags containing marijuana from his
person.
The charges in the complaint are allegations, and the defendants are presumed
innocent unless and until proven guilty. If convicted, the defendants each face a maximum
sentence of five years’ imprisonment.
The Defendants: ---
JAMES ALBERT
Age: 43
Comstock, New York
CLARENCE BROOKS
Age: 39
Bronx, New York
CELENA BURGESS
Age: 43
New York, New York
KYLE CHARLES
Age: 32
Brooklyn, New York
VERONICA JAGDEO
Age: 24
Freeport, New York
DARRINGTON JAMES
Age: 30
Queens, New York
JORCETTA KING
Age: 33
Bronx, New York
ABOUDOU KRIGGER
Age: 25
Bronx, New York
PATRICK LEGERME
Age: 29
Queens, New York
ALDRIN LIVINGSTON
Age: 31
Queens, New York
JONATHAN MEDINA
Age: 29
Queens, New York
JOHN MOHAMMED
Age: 27
Rome, New York
MICHAEL MURRAY
Age: 28
Brooklyn, New York
CHRISTOPHER RIVAS
Age: 32
New York, New York
ANGEL RODRIGUEZ
Age: 23
Bellport, New York
STYLES SHEPHARD
Age: 24
New York, New York
CHRISTOPHER WALKER
Age: 28
Brooklyn, New York
TONY WEST
Age: 24
Brooklyn, New York
