September 20, 2024

‘Dangerous and foolish.’ Miami-Dade prison guard charged with cocaine trafficking

Miami #Miami

a fenced in grassy area next to a fence: Dade Correctional Institution at 19000 SW 377th St, Homestead, Florida on Nov. 19, 2014. © PATRICK FARRELL/TNS Dade Correctional Institution at 19000 SW 377th St, Homestead, Florida on Nov. 19, 2014.

MIAMI —Equating bringing drugs into a prison as akin to “lighting a match near an open container of gasoline — dangerous and foolish,” State Attorney Katherine Fernandez Rundle’s office announced on Saturday the arrest of a Miami-Dade prison guard for bringing cocaine into his workplace: The Dade and Homestead Correctional Institution.

a sign on the side of a road: Dade Correctional Institution at 19000 SW 377th St, Homestead, Florida on Nov. 19, 2014. © PATRICK FARRELL/TNS Dade Correctional Institution at 19000 SW 377th St, Homestead, Florida on Nov. 19, 2014.

The Thursday arrest of Dade Correctional Institution Sgt. Travis Samuel Thompson, 26, follows a joint investigation by the Miami-Dade Police Department and the Miami-Dade State Attorney’s Office.

Thompson is charged with one count of cocaine trafficking, a first-degree felony. Bond was set at $25,000 and he is under house arrest after making bail, according to Miami-Dade Corrections and Rehabilitation records.

Rundle’s office said Thompson has worked for the Florida Department of Corrections since 2015.

According to the report, Thompson allegedly met with an undercover Miami-Dade police officer and agreed to accept $3,000 cash and to bring cocaine into the Dade Correctional Institution.

Thompson was taken into custody when he took possession of the drugs and cash, according to Rundle’s office.

“Drugged inmates can be totally unpredictable and potentially violent as they relate to other inmates and to guards, placing everyone in danger,” Rundle said in a statement where she commended the team for “aggressively pursuing this investigation.”

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