TRENTON
- Attorney General Paula T. Dow and Criminal
Justice Director Stephen J. Taylor announced
that an inmate at Northern State Prison
in Newark pleaded guilty today to being
a member of a network that smuggled pre-paid
cell phones and drugs into the prison. An
outside accomplice and two inmates who were
customers also pleaded guilty today.
According
to Director Taylor, Quadir Barnes, 32, pleaded
guilty to a second-degree charge of racketeering
before Superior Court Judge Mathias E. Rodriguez
in Middlesex County. Under the plea agreement,
the state will recommend that he be sentenced
to six years in state prison, with the sentence
to run consecutive to his current state
prison sentence.
Deputy
Attorneys General Cassandra Serentino and
Michael Wicke took the guilty pleas for
the Division of Criminal Justice. The charges
stem from Operation Empire, a joint investigation
by the New Jersey State Police, the Department
of Corrections and the Division of Criminal
Justice.
In
pleading guilty, Barnes admitted that he
was part of a network of inmates who solicited
customers and distributed cell phones and
narcotics that were smuggled into the prison
by a former corrections officer, Luis S.
Roman, 47, of Avenel. Roman pleaded guilty
on April 18 to charges of racketeering and
official misconduct. The state will recommend
that Roman be sentenced to 14 years in state
prison, including five years of parole ineligibility.
Barnes,
Roman and 17 other defendants who allegedly
distributed contraband in the prison or
acted as accomplices outside the prison
were charged with racketeering and conspiracy
in a state grand jury indictment obtained
by the Division of Criminal Justice on Sept.
15, 2010. Separate indictments obtained
that month charged 16 inmates who bought
contraband.
Three
other defendants also pleaded guilty today:
-
Shanta Barnes, 25, of
East Orange, pleaded guilty to a charge
of second-degree conspiracy for acting
as an accomplice outside the prison for
her brother, Quadir Barnes. She faces
probation.
-
Serafim DeGarcia, 33,
an inmate in the Adult Diagnostic Treatment
Center in Avenel, pleaded guilty as a
purchaser of contraband to fourth-degree
obstructing justice. He faces a sentence
of 18 months in prison, consecutive to
his current sentence.
-
Rotimi Washington, 37,
an inmate at Northern State Prison, also
pleaded guilty as a customer to fourth-degree
obstructing justice. He also faces a consecutive
18-month prison sentence.
The
investigation revealed that Roman smuggled
contraband into the prison several times
a week, including pre-paid cell phones,
cocaine, heroin, and marijuana, hiding the
items in his protective vest and boots.
The inmates who acted as distributors had
family members or friends outside the prison
who allegedly acted as accomplices by buying
phones and drugs and packaging them for
delivery to Roman. The investigation revealed
that inmates paid for the items by having
money wired to Roman’s wife or another
accomplice on the outside.
The
Department of Corrections Special Investigations
Division began looking into the possibility
of a correction officer or other prison
worker smuggling contraband into Northern
State Prison after numerous wireless phones
of the same makes and models were confiscated
from inmates.
The
joint investigation by the State Police
and the Department of Corrections began
in July 2009. Roman’s smuggling continued
from at least August 2007 to Nov. 14, 2009,
when he was arrested with his wife. Ann
Marie Roman, 36, of Keasbey, who now is
divorced from Luis Roman, pleaded guilty
on Sept. 14, 2010 before Superior Court
Judge Frederick P. DeVesa to second-degree
conspiracy to commit bribery. She admitted
that, at her husband’s direction,
she received thousands of dollars through
Western Union and Money Gram as payment
for smuggled items.
Roman
allegedly used two trusted inmates at Northern
State Prison as his organizers or middle
men. Those inmates, Angel Vasquez, 53, and
Willie Wade, 46, in turn allegedly employed
numerous other inmates, including Barnes,
as distributors to canvass the prison for
customers. The customers agreed to pay a
fee for the contraband. For example, if
an inmate wanted a pre-paid cell phone,
he would have to pay up to $400, plus an
additional $200 as a “shipment fee.”
At each level of the organization, middle-men
and distributors received a certain amount
of money. Once the contraband was smuggled
in, Roman allegedly would pass it along
to his middle men, who would give it to
the distributor inmates, frequently kitchen
and laundry workers, who would distribute
the contraband throughout the prison. The
indictments are merely accusations and the
remaining defendants are presumed innocent
until proven guilty.
The investigation was led by Detective Timothy
Hackett and Detective Sgt. Dennis Buoye
of the New Jersey State Police Street Gang
North Unit, and Principal Investigator Scott
Russo, Senior Investigator Michael Kubik
and Senior Investigator Omar Howard of the
Department of Corrections Special Investigations
Division. Supervising Deputy Attorney General
Andrew M. Butchko and Deputy Attorneys General
Cassandra Serentino, Daniel Bornstein and
Julia S. Glass prepared and presented the
case to the state grand jury for the Division
of Criminal Justice Gangs & Organized
Crime Bureau.
Judge
Rodriquez set sentencing dates in June for
the defendants who pleaded guilty today.
Roman is scheduled for sentencing in October.
The
indictments are posted with the Sept.
23, 2010 press release at www.njpublicsafety.com.
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