KANSAS CITY, Mo. – A Kansas City, Mo., man was sentenced in
federal court today for his role in a conspiracy to smuggle contraband cell
phones and other items to inmates at the Jackson County Detention Center.
Marion Lorenzo Byers, also known as “Cuddy,” 36, of Kansas
City, was sentenced by U.S. District Judge Gary A. Fenner to two years and
three months in federal prison without parole. The court also ordered the
federal sentence be served consecutively to whatever revocation sentence may be
imposed in state court as a result of Byers violating his probation for a DUI
conviction in Buchanan County, Mo.
Byers, who pleaded guilty on Dec. 6, 2017, admitted that he
conspired with others – including a corrections officer and an inmate at the
Jackson County Detention Center – to smuggle contraband to inmates between May
2 and June 26, 2017. Byers also admitted that he delivered contraband to a
co-conspirator, who in turn delivered the contraband to a corrections officer
at the detention center, who was to deliver the contraband to an inmate.
Co-defendant Jalee Caprice Fuller, 30, of Independence, Mo.,
the former corrections officer, pleaded guilty to her role in the conspiracy
and awaits sentencing. Co-defendants Carlos Laron Hughley, 33, an inmate at the
Jackson County Detention Center, and Janikkia Lashay Carter, 37, both of Kansas
City, Mo., have also pleaded guilty and await sentencing.
In a separate but related case, another former corrections
officer at the Jackson County Detention Center, Andre Lamonte Dickerson, 27, of
Kansas City, Mo., pleaded guilty to two counts of using a telephone in
furtherance of the unlawful activity of acceding to corruption, related to a
public servant taking a bribe in return for violating his legal duty. A
sentencing hearing is scheduled for Aug. 31, 2018.
The Travel Act
The Travel Act makes it a crime to use a facility of
interstate commerce (such as telephone calls) with the intent to further
unlawful activity. The Travel Act’s definition of “unlawful activity” includes
bribery in violation of the laws of a state. Missouri state law makes it a
crime for a public servant to solicit or accept a bribe in return for violating
a known legal duty. This crime is known under Missouri state law as acceding to
corruption, and it is a companion or sister statute to the Missouri state
statute that makes it a crime for someone to bribe a public servant. These two
Missouri state statutes criminalize bribery conduct involving a public servant,
both for the person paying the bribe and for the public servant taking the
bribe.
Byers admitted that he conspired to violate the Travel Act
by using a facility of interstate commerce (a telephone) to facilitate the
promotion of an unlawful activity, that is, acceding to corruption.
This case is being prosecuted by Deputy U.S. Attorney Gene
Porter and Assistant U.S. Attorney Brent Venneman. It was investigated by the
FBI and the Jackson County, Mo., Sheriff’s Department with assistance from the
Missouri Department of Corrections, the Kansas City, Mo., Police Department and
the Jackson County Detention Center.
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