Corrections Officer Charged

FEDERAL CORRECTIONS OFFICER CHARGED WITH ACCEPTING BRIBES AND ATTEMPTING TO POSSESS COCAINE WITH THE INTENT TO DISTRIBUTE

January 30, 2010 - Jeffrey H. Sloman, United States Attorney for the Southern District of Florida, John V. Gillies, Special Agent in Charge, Federal Bureau of Investigation, Miami Field Office, Teresa Gulotta-Powers, Special Agent in Charge, U.S. Department of Justice, Office of the Inspector General, John T. Rathman, Warden, Bureau of Prisons, and Miguel Exposito, Chief, City of Miami Police Department, announced the filing of federal criminal charges against Octavius Allen, a federal corrections officer at the Federal Detention Center (“FDC”) in Miami, Florida. The defendant’s bond hearing is scheduled for Friday, January 29, 2010, at 11 a.m. before United States Magistrate Judge Robin S. Rosenbaum.

On January 28, 2010, a criminal complaint was filed in federal court charging that, on January 27, 2010, the defendant knowingly attempted to possess with the intent to distribute cocaine, in violation of Title 21, United States Code, Section 846. The complaint also charges that, between December 24, 2009, and continuing through January 27, 2010, the defendant, a public official, did corruptly demand, seek, receive, accept, and agree to receive and accept a thing of value in return for being induced to do an act in violation of his official duty, in violation of Title 18, United States Code, Section 201(b)(2)(C). If convicted, the defendant faces a maximum penalty of up to twenty years in prison on the drug charges and up to fifteen years on the bribery charges.

According to the affidavit filed in support of the complaint, between December 25, 2009 and January 23, 2010, the defendant smuggled six plastic bottles filled with Remy Martin VS liquor into FDC and delivered them to two different inmates. These inmates, the complaint alleges, arranged for their family members to meet with the defendant at a Sears parking lot in Miami and pay him approximately $600 per bottle. The complaint further alleges that, after the inmates described these events to FBI and OIG agents, one of the inmates introduced the defendant to an undercover agent (“UC”) under the pretense that the UC, whom the inmate described as an ex-girlfriend, would be handling all future payments to the defendant. According to the complaint, on January 26, 2010, the UC met the defendant at a Starbucks in Miami and paid the defendant $700 for a bottle of alcohol the defendant had smuggled into FDC the week before.

The complaint further alleges that, on January 26, 2010, the UC offered the defendant

$3,000 if he would agree to smuggle two packages of cocaine into the prison, a proposition the defendant accepted the following day. According to the complaint, when, on January 27, 2010, the UC handed the defendant an envelope containing a bag of what appeared to be cocaine and $2,200 in cash, the defendant stuffed the envelope into a pair of shorts he was wearing underneath his pants. At that point, the defendant was arrested.

According to the complaint, after waiving his Miranda rights, the defendant provided a full confession, which he memorialized in a signed statement. The complaint further states that the defendant admitted to receiving several hundred dollars in cash on several occasions in exchange for smuggling contraband into FDC. According to the complaint, the defendant also confessed that, in exchange for several thousand dollars, he had taken what he believed to be cocaine from the UC with the intention of smuggling the cocaine into the inmates at FDC.

Mr. Sloman commended the investigative efforts of the FBI, DOJ’s Office of Inspector General, Bureau of Prisons and City of Miami Police Department. The case is being prosecuted by Assistant United States Attorneys Roy Altman and Alicia Schick.

An Indictment is only an accusation and a defendant is presumed innocent until and unless proven guilty.

A copy of this press release may be found on the website of the United States Attorney's Office for the Southern District of Florida at http://www.usdoj.gov/usao/fls. Related court documents and information may be found on the website of the District Court for the Southern District of Florida at http://www.flsd.uscourts.gov or on http://pacer.flsd.uscourts.gov/.