Adam Ferrise, cleveland.com Express Desk
cleveland.com
CLEVELAND, Ohio — A former nurse and a security guard at a private prison in Youngstown were sentenced Thursday for their roles in a scheme to smuggle drugs and cellphones into the facility.
Brenda Dixson, the security guard, was sentenced to two years in prison, a $1,000 fine and three years of post-prison supervision. Jodi Johnson, the registered nurse, received an 18-month prison sentence and two years of supervision.
U.S. District Judge Christopher Boyko handed down the sentences.
The two women were charged in October 2025 in federal court in Youngstown with possession with intent to distribute drugs and smuggling contraband into the Northeast Ohio Correctional Center, a privately run prison owned by Tennessee -based CoreCivic that houses federal pretrial detainees and state prisoners.
Authorities said Johnson hid drugs inside food and drink containers and Dixson allowed her to pass through security without reporting irregularities detected during screening.
A U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration task force, working with a prison investigator, set up surveillance on the pair after receiving a tip about the smuggling operation.
Agents watched as Johnson carried a clear bag containing boxes of food and energy drink containers through a security checkpoint, where Dixson scanned the bag, performed a pat-down and allowed Johnson through without alerting anyone to the scan’s irregularities.
When DEA agents moved in, they found one pound of hashish, 66 grams of codeine and about a quarter-pound of marijuana, along with seven cellphone chargers and four vape cartridges.
Johnson told investigators she had been smuggling drugs since February 2025 to make money and was paid via Apple Pay. Her Apple Pay account showed a balance of approximately $9,000. Johnson said Dixson was the only person she worked with in the scheme.
The convictions are the latest in a series of criminal cases brought by federal prosecutors involving smuggling at NEOCC.
Two guards were sentenced in 2023 for taking bribes from an inmate to smuggle drugs and other contraband into the prison, and a nurse was sentenced in March of that year for smuggling items in for a member of Cleveland’s 8AVE gang. Several members of the Fully Blooded Felons gang were also convicted or pleaded guilty to smuggling drugs into the facility.
Earlier this month, a food service employee at NEOCC who worked for Trinity Food Service was charged in federal court in Youngstown. She is accused of smuggling in marijuana and tobacco as incentives for inmates who work with her in food service at the prison.
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