Staff members at a state prison said Monday they foiled an inmate’s attempt to launch a drug-dealing business and rooted out a corrupt employee in one seamless move.
The scheme involved a prisoner named Frank Morales and his romantic interest, a female kitchen worker, at the Southern New Mexico Correctional Facility near Las Cruces.
James Mulheron, coordinator of the prison unit that investigates threats and security breaches, said the woman smuggled 26 grams of cocaine and 46 grams of heroin into the prison.
She placed the drugs in her body, but surrendered them after investigators began interrogating her when she reported for work Friday, her first day back after her days off, Mulheron said.
The woman planned to deliver the drugs to Morales, who then would sell them to fellow inmates, Mulheron said during a news conference.
He said Morales’ attempt to deal drugs in the prison unraveled during the course of a two-week investigation.
The prison staff, assisted by a multi-agency narcotics unit based in Las Cruces, began watching the woman and monitoring her conversations with Morales. They pounced when she reported for her shift, confiscating the drugs and breaking open the case.
Mulheron would not identify the woman because she had not been arrested or charged as of Monday evening. She could face up to six felonies, prison administrators said.
The woman worked for Aramark, a food service company that has a contract at the prison. Aramark fired her Friday, Mulheron said.
Morales, 31, worked on a kitchen detail, and that was how he met the woman, Mulheron said.
He estimated that the woman was in her early 20s, and that she had a romantic interest in Morales. Rosie Sais, a spokeswoman for the Department of Corrections, even said the kitchen worker referred to Morales as her fiance.
Though the woman expressed romantic feelings for Morales, investigators said they were not sure the relationship was physical.
This may have been the second time she smuggled drugs into the prison for Morales, Mulheron said. His supposition was based on monitoring of their conversations.
As a contract employee of the prison, the woman had been through a background investigation and training.
Part of the orientation for new workers is how prisoners may try to prey on staff members to gain favors or leverage, said Gregg Marcantel, state secretary of corrections.
The woman had worked at the prison approximately since March.
Morales was serving a three-year sentence for drug trafficking and conspiracy. He arrived at the prison on May 31, 2011, and was classified as a medium-security inmate.
The woman obtained the drugs he intended to sell in prison from a connection in Albuquerque, investigators said.
Mulheron said the case was significant because of the security breakdown and because drugs are an enormous danger in prisons.
He said they are a cause of power struggles, inmate debts and assaults.
Sais said the heroin and cocaine brought to the prison would carry a value of $4,000 to $6,000 on the street. But inside, she said, the drugs would be worth $12,000 to $15,000.
