By Steve Schmadeke
Chicago Tribune
COOK COUNTY, Ill. — Cook County Jail inmates sold tiny amounts of marijuana out of toothpaste caps after a correctional officer smuggled in the drug, Sheriff Tom Dart said today.
Jermaine Hoskins, 37, who has worked at the West Side jail for two years, was arrested Friday as he arrived for work. He is scheduled to appear today in bond court on official misconduct charges.
One inmate and his outside contact were also charged with bribery, said Dart, who identified them as Lawrence Pope, 33, a detainee who has been in custody on an aggravated domestic battery charge since last year, and Taveda Driver, 41, an associate of Pope who allegedly delivered the marijuana to Hoskins.
The investigation started when jail officials learned that inmates were using two cell phones to send text messages to outside contacts, Dart said.
Officials recovered the phones and asked the FBI to help investigate. The subsequent investigation uncovered that Hoskins was smuggling marijuana and tobacco into the jail, according to the sheriff.
Hoskins was paid a few hundred dollars each time he helped smuggle in contraband, likely including the cell phones, Dart said.
“That’s the thing that’s been so distressing,” the sheriff said. “He’s only been a correctional officer for us for two years and he himself has acknowledged that he’s been doing this activity for some time.”
While authorities seized only an ounce of marijuana from Hoskins’ vehicle, it had a value of about $1,000 because it was sold to inmates in tiny amounts, officials said.