PERRY, Fla. (WTXL) - A Florida Department of Corrections officer has been arrested, accused of accepting money to smuggle drugs into a state prison.
Lashunda Thomas, 40, of Tallahassee, is charged with one count each of unlawful compensation and conspiracy to introduce contraband.
Documents say that on March 30, Thomas unlawfully accepted $100 via a Walmart MoneyGram from an inmate visitor on behalf of her boyfriend, an inmate, to bring contraband into the jail, according to an affidavit for arrest.
On March 10, Thomas unlawfully conspired with an inmate visitor to introduce marijuana into the jail, the affidavit said.
Information about Thomas being paid to introduce contraband drugs into the Taylor County Institution surfaced April 30, when the inmate and his girlfriend provided officials with sworn statements. Their statements said that the $100 MoneyGram was sent to Thomas in Tallahassee in exchange for her smuggling marijuana into TCI.
The inmate visitor phoned Thomas at a number given to the inmate involved in the deal by another at the TCI Work Camp.
Thomas, whose arrest was announced Friday, was booked into the Taylor County Jail on a $20,000 bond.
