Reeves County Detention Facility Employee Pleads Guilty to Providing Contraband to Prisoners

Acting United States Attorney John E. Murphy announced today that an employee at the Reeves County Detention Center (RCDC) in Pecos, Texas, pleaded guilty to providing contraband to prisoners. Moises B. Martinez, Jr. was indicted by a federal grand jury in Midland, Texas, on Wednesday March 11, 2009. Sentencing will be later this year.

Employees reporting for work at RCDC are required to pass through a security screening area which includes a metal detector. As part of the security screening, sometimes employees must submit to a physical body inspection (pat-down) to ensure that contraband and other prohibited items are not introduced into the facility, either deliberately or inadvertently. Among other things, contraband includes, drugs, cellphones, and tobacco products.

As part of the guilty plea entered Thursday, May 14, 2009, Martinez acknowledged that in June and July 2008, he worked as a Case Manager at RCDC, and that on at least five occasions, family members of inmates at RCDC wire transferred money (in amounts ranging from $500-900) to Martinez in Pecos. The wire transfers were made in exchange for Martinez’s agreement to smuggle tobacco and other contraband items into inmates at RCDC. Martinez has further admitted that he smuggled 50 to 60 packages of tobacco into RCDC by simply placing the packages in his jacket pocket and walking into work.

This case is being investigated by the Federal Bureau of Investigation and the Reeves County Detention Center and is being prosecuted for the government by Assistant United States Attorney John Klassen.