Federal Correctional Officer Pleads Guilty to Bribery Charge
Kimberlee Crabtree Admitted to Smuggling Tobacco Products and a Cell Phone into USP Lee County
| U.S. Attorney’s Office February 27, 2014 |
ABINGDON, VA—A former correctional officer at United States Penitentiary Lee County pled guilty today in the United States District Court for the Western District of Virginia in Abingdon to charges that she smuggled tobacco and other products into the federal correctional facility in exchange for cash.
Kimberlee Crabtree, 43, of Jonesville, Virginia, waived her right to be indicted and pled guilty today to a one-count Information charging her with accepting a bribe as a public official. Crabtree faces a potential maximum sentence of up to 15 years’ imprisonment and a potential fine of up to $250,000.
“Ms. Crabtree accepted bribes from a federal prisoner and provided him with contraband including tobacco products and a cellular telephone,” United States Attorney Timothy J. Heaphy said today. “Her actions threatened institutional security and put staff and inmates at risk. We will do all we can to ensure that our federal prisons are safe and secure and aggressively pursue both inmates and correctional officers who violate the rules.”
According to evidence presented at the guilty plea hearing by Assistant United States Attorney Zachary T. Lee, between August 2013 and November 2013, Crabtree was employed as a correctional officer and nurse for the United States Bureau of Prisons at United States Penitentiary Lee County, Virginia, in Jonesville, Virginia. During this time, Crabtree received multiple monetary payments, totaling at least $2,500, from an inmate at the penitentiary in return for Crabtree smuggling tobacco products and a cell phone into the penitentiary. These items were then provided to the inmate in violation of Bureau of Prisons regulations.
Sentencing has been set for May 27, 2013, in the United States District Court for the Western District of Virginia in Abingdon.
The investigation of this case was conducted by the Federal Bureau of Investigation, United States Bureau of Prisons Special Investigative Service at United States Penitentiary Lee County, and the United States Department of Justice Office of the Inspector General. Assistant United States Attorney Zachary T. Lee is prosecuting the case for the United States.