In a series of indictments issued by the U.S. Attorney’s Office last Wednesday, four Philadelphia correctional officers and two former officers were charged with smuggling drugs and cellphones into city prisons and delivering the contraband to inmates in exchange for cash.
All six defendants are Philadelphia residents and were identified as John Wesley Herder, 49; Bryant Fields, 43; George Kindle, 29; Marc Thompson, 23; Dupree Myers, 27; and Joseph Romano, 31. All were assigned to various prisons in the State Road complex at the time the alleged crimes occurred.
Each defendant allegedly agreed to deliver a cellular phone and/or prescription pills such as OxyContin to a prisoner in exchange for a payment of between $500 and $1,500. In each case, the officer allegedly met an associate of the inmate outside the prison to obtain the contraband as well as cash. The alleged violations occurred between September 2013 and December 2014.
The Philadelphia Prison System investigated the case along with the FBI and the Philadelphia Police Department’s Prison Intelligence Group. If convicted, the defendants face maximum sentences ranging from 40 to 80 years. ••
