Former guard pleads guilty to smuggling drugs into prison

Walter Richardson, 23, pleaded guilty to smuggling drugs into Lebanon Correctional Institution, where he worked as a guard.

Walter Richardson, 23, pleaded guilty to smuggling drugs into Lebanon Correctional Institution, where he worked as a guard.

Former Lebanon Correctional Institution Officer Walter Richardson, pleaded guilty to smuggling drugs into the prison.

Richardson, 23, of Cincinnati, pleaded guilty Wednesday to illegal conveyance of drugs into a detention facility and possession of drugs in Warren County Common Pleas Court.

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Because Richardson was an employee of the Ohio Department of Rehabilitation and Correction, a mandatory prison term is required.

On Friday, Aug. 26, 2016, Richardson reported to duty at LeCI and was subjected to a routine administrative inspection.

Prison officials discovered that he had 100 Suboxone strips concealed in the finger of a rubber glove in his pocket. Further investigation revealed another inmate, who Richardson would not identify, paid Richardson $1,000 to deliver a package of the drugs into the institution.

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Richardson immediately resigned his employment and was placed under arrest.

“This is the second conviction within the past month of a corrections officer attempting to convey drugs into one of our local prisons. We hope this sends a message to other prison personnel that if we catch you bringing drugs into the prison, you’ll be joining the inmates behind bars,” Warren County Prosecutor David P. Fornshell said in a press release.