By Brian Kelly
Watertown Daily Times
MALONE, N.Y. — A former corrections officer at Franklin Correctional Facility admitted Wednesday in federal court that he was part of a drug distribution conspiracy that involved more than 100 kilograms of marijuana and also involved his mother.
Bradley W. Rushford, 33, Ellenburg Depot, admitted in U.S. District Court, Plattsburg, that he coordinated the transportation and delivery of marijuana loads smuggled into the United States from Canada and bound for locations throughout the eastern United States, according to a prepared statement from U.S. Attorney Richard S. Hartunian.
His mother and co-defendant, Freda Rushford, pleaded guilty July 6 to making a false statement to federal officers and to being part of the same marijuana conspiracy.
According to an indictment filed in federal court, the pair, along with unidentified others, knowingly conspired to possess and distribute marijuana in Franklin County from about October 2010 until about July 2011.
It was also alleged that Mrs. Rushford made a false statement to federal investigators by stating to U.S. Department of Homeland Security Investigations special agents on March 11, 2011, that she was not previously informed of a March 2, 2011, seizure of marijuana from a vehicle registered in her name when she had been informed of the seizure and “discussed the seizure at length.”
Mr. Rushford is scheduled to be sentenced Dec. 1 in Utica to at least five years in prison and up to 40 years, followed by five years of additional supervision upon his release, and could face a fine up to $5 million.
Mrs. Rushford is due to be sentenced Nov. 3 in Utica and faces the same potential sentence.