A Maryland corrections officer was accused of being a high-ranking member of the 8-Trey Crips street gang and indicted on 35 charges, including first-degree attempted murder, drug distribution and smuggling of contraband, state officials announced Thursday.
Antoine Fordham was the initial target of the nearly year-long investigation into gang activity in Maryland prisons by the Maryland Office of the Attorney General, the Drug Enforcement Administration and the Maryland Department of Public Safety and Correctional Services.
Fordham was among 26 people indicted last month in Anne Arundel Circuit Court for alleged gang activity. Others include Maryland corrections officer Phillipe Jordan and the mothers of three inmates.
“It’s a disgrace that gangs are operating in our prisons. It’s even worse where they’re abetted by folks who have taken an oath to uphold the law,” Maryland Attorney General Brian E. Frosh (D) said.
Authorities allege that Fordham oversaw much of the 8-Trey Crips’ drug dealing and other illicit activities in Baltimore City, including authorizing or committing assaults. According to the indictment, Fordham also ran a large-scale, contraband-delivery operation in several Maryland correctional facilities, including Jessup Correctional Institution and Maryland Correctional Institution.
Fordham was previously arrested on charges he had illegal guns in his home and has been in jail for the past few months, Frosh said.
Lawrence Rosenberg, Fordham’s attorney, declined to comment.
Members of the 8-Trey Crips, who operate in Baltimore City and other areas of the state, delivered contraband including drugs, tobacco and cellphones into Maryland prisons, the indictment says. Authorities in court papers described several instances in which they said Fordham was involved in the transport of contraband.
Fordham also is accused of authorizing the assault of a former Crips member who is gay. According to the indictment, he arranged for the assault to be carried out by members of the Bloods, a rival gang, inside the prison where the man was incarcerated. The victim was stabbed more than 30 times but survived. The indictment does not name the prison.
In another incident in a prison, Fordham allegedly authorized the assault of a man who was “suspected of providing information to rival gangs” about where contraband was stored.
Outside prison, authorities allege that Fordham was present at the shooting of two men who had been warned not to sell drugs in the Crips’ territory.
The correctional officers and inmates used the prison phone system and illegal cellphones to place orders, and the contraband was paid for through the online payment system PayPal, the indictment says.
This is the latest in a series of indictments by officials targeting corruption in the state’s prisons.
Maryland corrections officer accused of being a high-ranking gang member
Antoine Fordham was the initial target of the nearly year-long investigation into gang activity in Maryland prisons by the Maryland Office of the Attorney General, the Drug Enforcement Administration and the Maryland Department of Public Safety and Correctional Services.
Fordham was among 26 people indicted last month in Anne Arundel Circuit Court for alleged gang activity. Others include Maryland corrections officer Phillipe Jordan and the mothers of three inmates.
“It’s a disgrace that gangs are operating in our prisons. It’s even worse where they’re abetted by folks who have taken an oath to uphold the law,” Maryland Attorney General Brian E. Frosh (D) said.
Authorities allege that Fordham oversaw much of the 8-Trey Crips’ drug dealing and other illicit activities in Baltimore City, including authorizing or committing assaults. According to the indictment, Fordham also ran a large-scale, contraband-delivery operation in several Maryland correctional facilities, including Jessup Correctional Institution and Maryland Correctional Institution.
Fordham was previously arrested on charges he had illegal guns in his home and has been in jail for the past few months, Frosh said.
Lawrence Rosenberg, Fordham’s attorney, declined to comment.
Members of the 8-Trey Crips, who operate in Baltimore City and other areas of the state, delivered contraband including drugs, tobacco and cellphones into Maryland prisons, the indictment says. Authorities in court papers described several instances in which they said Fordham was involved in the transport of contraband.
Fordham also is accused of authorizing the assault of a former Crips member who is gay. According to the indictment, he arranged for the assault to be carried out by members of the Bloods, a rival gang, inside the prison where the man was incarcerated. The victim was stabbed more than 30 times but survived. The indictment does not name the prison.
In another incident in a prison, Fordham allegedly authorized the assault of a man who was “suspected of providing information to rival gangs” about where contraband was stored.
Outside prison, authorities allege that Fordham was present at the shooting of two men who had been warned not to sell drugs in the Crips’ territory.
The correctional officers and inmates used the prison phone system and illegal cellphones to place orders, and the contraband was paid for through the online payment system PayPal, the indictment says.
This is the latest in a series of indictments by officials targeting corruption in the state’s prisons.
Maryland corrections officer accused of being a high-ranking gang member
Two correctional officers received thousands of dollars in bribes for smuggling drugs and other contraband into a Jessup maximum-security prison — the latest allegations of wrongdoing to unfold at a Maryland correctional facility, according to multiple indictments announced Thursday by the governor and the state prosecutor’s office.
The officers were among 18 people indicted in the widespread smuggling case, which also includes inmates and civilians. Gov. Larry Hogan and state prosecutor Emmet C. Davitt said the recent indictments were the result of a year-long wiretap investigation by state agencies into the Jessup Correctional Institution
“We will not let depraved criminal behavior of the few tarnish the great work of the other nearly 6,000 dedicated officers who are honest, hardworking and serve the citizens of our state with distinction each and every day,” Hogan said at a news conference inside the the Jessup facility.
The two correctional officers are Warren Wright Jr., a 43-year-old from Baltimore who is an 18-year corrections veteran, and Phillipe Jordan Jr., a 38-year-old from Owings Mills who is a 12-year veteran. They, six inmates and 10 “outside facilitators” face charges including conspiracy to distribute drugs, bribery, smuggling contraband and misconduct, Davitt said.
Black Guerrilla Family gang had seized control of the Baltimore City Detention Center in 2013. The case found that gang members enjoyed free rein behind the prison walls, facilitated by guards — four of whom were impregnated. At least 40 people have been convicted in the case. Hogan later closed the facility because of decrepit conditions at the Civil War-era structure.
In October 2016, federal agents indicted 80 people in the largest prison corruption case in Maryland history. Corrections officers and inmates were charged with smuggling heroin, cocaine, cellphones and pornography into the Eastern Correctional Institution in Somerset County on the Eastern Shore. More than 60 people have pleaded guilty.
In November, 25 people — including two prison guards at Jessup, inmates and civilians — were charged after a 10-month wiretap investigation into the Crips street gang.
The Department of Public Safety and Correctional Services has added additional measures to curb the flow of contraband into its prisons. Last year, the department announced the purchase of additional metal detectors that can detect the smallest pieces of contraband.
Hogan said his administration also has provided funds for additional prosecutors to the state’s corruption unit and investigators to examine prison corruption. He said he also supported a law requiring polygraph tests for correctional officers, and sought criminal justice reforms that reduced the state prison population.
Stephen T. Moyer, Maryland secretary of public safety and correctional services, said Thursday that the efforts of the special investigative unit and resulting investigation show “the commitment the governor and our department have made to go outside the fence” to stop the flow of illegal contraband, which fuels violence within facilities.
The recent investigation resulted in the confiscation of guns, cellphones not much bigger than the size of a quarter, and drugs, including heroin and cocaine. The correctional officers are accused of smuggling drugs such as Suboxone, which Moyer said is the No. 1 type of contraband found at state facilities.
According to the indictments, Wright had been smuggling drugs into Jessup since November 2015 for inmate Tyrone Johnson, 53, who is serving time for murder. At Jessup, Johnson was “one of the main sources” of drugs, including heroin, fentanyl and buprenorphine, also known as Suboxone, according to the indictment.
Wright is charged with 19 counts that include bribery, misconduct, drug possession, and conspiracy to distribute. His attorney, Andrew White, did not respond to a request for comment Thursday.
The 26-page indictment against Wright describes how Johnson would get family members to deliver drugs and other contraband to Wright at random locations around Baltimore in exchange for hundreds of dollars in cash. Johnson did not have an attorney listed in online court records.
The other officer, Jordan, faces 24 counts, including bribery, firearm and drug trafficking, contraband possession. Prosecutors said he would receive drugs from others and smuggle them into the facility, and accepted $2,000 in bribes. His attorney, Warren Brown, declined to comment on the case Thursday.
18 people, including two guards, indicted in latest state prison corruption case
