Visitor Sentenced for Attempting to Smuggle Marijuana into Federal Prison

Timothy M. Morrison, United States Attorney for the Southern District of Indiana, announced that TYNEKA T. WILLIAMS, 30, St. Louis, Missouri, was sentenced to two years probation today by U.S. District Judge William T. Lawrence following her guilty plea to providing contraband in prison. This case was the result of an investigation by the Federal Bureau of Investigation and the Federal Bureau of Prisons (BOP).

WILLIAMS came to the Federal Correctional Institution component of FCC-Terre Haute on April 26, 2008, to visit a BOP inmate. WILLIAMS was initially denied the visit as the skirt she was wearing was deemed too short by BOP staff. WILLIAMS went to her car, obtained some slacks and then changed clothes in a restroom at the visiting room.

Prior to the inmate’s arrival to the visiting room, while WILLIAMS was seated in the visiting room, two balloons fell from WILLIAMS hip pocket onto the floor. When she retrieved the balloons, a correctional officer approached her and asked about the balloons. WILLIAMS handed the balloons to the officer and said, “Marijuana, but it’s my cousin’s.”

In a later statement to an FBI agent, WILLIAMS admitted that she knowingly brought the marijuana to the institution to deliver to the inmate, who never made it to the visiting room. A laboratory examination indicated that the balloons contained approximately 2 grams of marijuana.

According to Assistant U.S. Attorney James M. Warden, who prosecuted the case for the government, Judge Lawrence also imposed fined WILLIAMS in the amount of $500.