By Anthony G. Attrino
NJ Advance Media Group
MERCER COUNTY, N.J. — A Mercer County grand jury on Tuesday indicted a state corrections officer on charges that he accepted bribes to smuggle drugs and other contraband into New Jersey State Prison, authorities said.
Officer Jamaine Russell, 27, of Deptford, and his alleged accomplice, Debra Rayner, 34, of Mullica Hill, are charged with one count each of second-degree official misconduct, second-degree bribery and third-degree financial facilitation of criminal activity, according to Prosecutor Angelo J. Onofri.
Russell, a state corrections employee since 2016, allegedly used his position as a jailer to accept cash bribes.
In exchange, he brought drugs and other contraband into the Trenton prison from October 2018 through November 2019, according to the indictment.
Raynor, who is not a corrections employee, was indicted as Russell’s accomplice “because she promoted and facilitated the commission of the crimes,” Onofrio alleged in a statement.
Russell and Rayner were charged in November 2019 following an investigation by the New Jersey Department of Corrections Special Investigations Division, Onofrio said.
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