By Trish Mehaffey
The Gazette
CEDAR RAPIDS — A drug investigation has led authorities to an unlikely place — the guard towers at the Anamosa State Penitentiary.
State and federal officials announced Tuesday that four tower guards at the prison were part of a ring that smuggled cellphones inside for inmates in exchange for cash, and traded illegal drugs with each other.
Iowa Department of Corrections Director Jerry Bartruff said more may yet be charged. He said three Anamosa employees were on paid administrative leave pending an investigation, but wouldn’t elaborate.
“It should be clear that these acts will not be tolerated within our corrections system,” a spokesman for Gov. Terry Branstad said.
Cellphones smuggled into prisons by corrupt guards, concealed in food containers or hurled over security fences are an increasing worry for law enforcement across the nation as prisoners use them to intimidate witnesses, direct drug deals and plan escapes, according to a Reuters report last year documenting the problem.
The Anamosa prison can house up to 1,000 inmates and is classified as being for medium- to high-risk offenders, There are about 170 corrections officers there.
Now-former correctional officers Garrett Barton, 29, of Anamosa; Ethan Darrow, 29, of Anamosa; Marques Maryland, 38, of Cedar Rapids; and Seth Vogel, 28, of Marion, have been charged for their parts in the scheme, U.S. Attorney Kevin Techau said during a news conference Tuesday afternoon.
The four served prison guard duty while possessing AR-15 rifles.
Barton has been charged in federal court with one count of extortion violating the Hobbs Act — taking money to smuggle in cellphones for inmates — and one count of being an unlawful drug user in possession of firearms. He will plead guilty to both charges Oct. 13 and faces up to 30 years in prison,
Darrow was charged in federal court with one count of being an unlawful drug user in possession of firearms. He pleaded guilty Monday and faces up to 10 years.
Maryland and Vogel were charged in Jones County and will plead to aggravated misdemeanor charges of possessing controlled substances. They each face up to six months in prison.
The other man charged in federal court, Samuel Foster, 29 of North Liberty, faces a charge of being an unlawful drug user in possession of a firearm.
A drug and firearms investigation of Foster — who wasn’t employed by the prison — led authorities to the guards.
During the investigation, authorities discovered in late 2014 that Barton was smuggling cellphones to inmates for cash, and that he was trading drugs with other correctional officers, court documents show.
Darrow was also using drugs, including marijuana, cocaine and prescription drugs, court records show, and he traded drugs with Barton and Vogel. Barton had his source — Foster — sell marijuana to Maryland, records show.
Prison chief Bartruff said officials believe the guards used the drugs before they came to work, not on the job.
North Liberty police executed a search warrant at Foster’s home and storage garage, which about 530 grams of marijuana, 156 pills of hydromorphone pain medication, drug paraphernalia and a stolen .32 caliber revolver, the complaint alleges. The complaint also includes text messages from March 2014 through February between Barton and Foster, messaging about marijuana usage and selling to the others.
Foster made his initial appearance Monday in U.S. District Court. A magistrate ordered he remain in custody for now. If convicted, he faces up to 10 years in prison.
Bartruff said he didn’t know the volume of cellphones and drugs coming into the institution from the guards, and wouldn’t say if investigators believe drugs were being sold to inmates.
He said there are procedures in place for officers to put their cellphones in locked boxes and to pass through metal detectors. Obviously, he said, the technology failed to detect cellphones, which investigators are looking into.
He said this case was tough for him to accept because the officers are supposed to protect the public from harm.
However, he said he wanted to emphasize that only four of the guards — at this point in the investigation — were “behaving in criminal activity” and the incident doesn’t represent a “culture of corruption.”