“It’s so important to investigate and prosecute cases like this because corruption by a corrections officer harms not just the jail where he’s working,” said Benjamin C. Glassman, U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of Ohio. “but (it) undermines confidence in law enforcement generally and our whole system of justice.”
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The statutory sentencing range for the charge is from zero to 20 years and fines of up to $250,000. Defense attorney James Fleisher calculated Rose’s non-binding sentencing guideline range at 12-18 months. The plea agreement didn’t include an agreed sentence.
Asked by Rice if the statement of facts read aloud that included the efforts to sell multiple cell phones to inmates are true, Rose said, “Yes, Sir. They are.” Asked how he pleaded, Rose said, “Guilty, your Honor.”
Rose is scheduled to be sentenced May 23 after Rice receives a pre-sentence investigation report.
“This is very rare,” Glassman said. “Certainly, we are going to investigate and prosecute anytime that we find it, but the times that we find it, it’s very rare.”
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An affidavit written by Frederick Zollers, a member of the sheriff’s office and a task force member, alleged that Rose, who started working at the Montgomery County Jail in April 2016, provided a cell phone to an inmate in exchange for cash.
That federal inmate, according to Zollers, used the telephone to conduct drug transactions while incarcerated. The information came from another another federal inmate, Inmate A, though that inmate did not say Rose was the corrections officer who brought in the phone. Nevertheless, the affidavit said, law enforcement agencies were able to corroborate the federal inmate’s statements.
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Officers did a sweep of jail cells in September 2016 and found an iPhone in Inmate B’s cell. Inmate C, according to the complaint, advised Rose brought in the phone in exchange for $5,000 cash and that prisoners were arranging for Rose to meet Inmate B’s friends or family members outside the jail to make the exchange.
Rose is captured on surveillance video arranging the delivery of outside food to Inmate D, according to the complaint. Phone records also indicate Rose’s cell phone communicating with a known associate of Inmate D.
Inmate C advised that Rose offered to provide another cell phone for $1,500 to $2,000 and that Rose could help sell several pounds of marijuana, according to the complaint.
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