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Md. correctional officer gets 366 days for smuggling cigarettes

The Associated Press

BALTIMORE — A federal judge has sentenced a 34-year-old Cumberland correctional officer for smuggling cigarettes into a federal prison.

Prosecutors say Robb Phillips will serve a year and a day in prison for accepting bribes to smuggle the cigarettes and tobacco. They say Phillips received $14,000 since April 2006 for smuggling up to 50 packs of cigarettes a week.

According to authorities, Phillips received $50 per pack of cigarettes or $1,000 for each carton he smuggled to inmates. They say he used a large potato chip bag in his lunch box to sneak them into the Federal Correctional Institution in Cumberland.

Authorities also said Phillips used state corrections computers to monitor e-mails and phone calls making sure they weren’t revealing his scheme.