Feds Bust Amazingly Connected Prison Drug Ring

AP
Adam Martin 1,035 Views Aug 23, 2012

The massive drug ring run from Indiana prisons, revealed in a federal indictment on Wednesday, is amazing for the sheer level of connectivity between the prisoners, traffickers, and guards allegedly involved. At least two prisoners and a guard were arrested, and "several" more guards were alleged to have participated in the scheme, which involved prisoners in different penitentiaries working together via conference call, The Associated Press' Rick Callahan reports. The 40-person indictment "alleges that the purported ringleader, Oscar Perez, and an inmate at another prison, Justin Addler, even conference called with a third man using smuggled cellphones to discuss 'pooling their financial resources' to get a discount on heroin." The prisoners allegedly running the drug ring were so well-connected they even monitored sales on the street, the indictment says. "In at least one call in May 2012, Addler stayed on the phone with a woman 'throughout the duration' of a drug deal as she sold about 20 grams of heroin at a truck stop in Crawfordsville, Ind., for $2,500, according to the indictment," Callahan reports. It's a great lesson in doing business remotely, but somehow we doubt whatever cell phone company they used will be putting these defendants in its next commercial.

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