2 ex-guards plead guilty in McCormick prison smuggling bust
COLUMBIA, S.C. (WRDW/WAGT) - Two former correctional officers have pleaded guilty to state grand jury charges involving smuggling operations at McCormick Correctional Institution.
Dontai D. Parks, a former lieutenant, and Brandon C. Taylor, a former sergeant, pleaded guilty to misconduct in office.
Circuit Judge Walton McLeod sentenced both men to seven years in prison, suspended upon serving five years of probation.
ELSEWHERE IN THE CSRA ...
Washington County deputies make a string of prison smuggling busts
It’s not unusual for deputies to catch people trying to fly contraband into Washington State Prison with drones, but the past month has been busier than normal.
4 arrested after attempting to smuggle drugs into Hancock State Prison
Four people have been accused of attempting to smuggle drugs into the Hancock State Prison this week.
Both men must also submit letters to the South Carolina Criminal Justice Academy forbidding them from ever seeking employment as a law enforcement officer.
They were sentenced as part of the state grand jury’s “Gatekeeper” investigation, which charged prison employees with participation in lucrative conspiracies to smuggle large amounts of contraband, including marijuana, other illicit drugs and cellphones, into the prison.
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Also this week in a separate case, former South Carolina Department of Corrections employee Kevin Leroy Howard pleaded guilty to trafficking methamphetamine, possession of marijuana with intent to distribute, misconduct in office, and providing contraband to inmates.
Circuit Judge J. Derham Cole sentenced Howard, 37, to a total of four years in prison – three years for the drug charges and an additional year for the misconduct and contraband charges, to run consecutively.
Howard was a correctional officer at Tyger River Correctional Institution when he was arrested in July 2023 after attempting to bring cylinders filled with drugs into the institution concealed in his dinner.
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