New Jersey Correctional Officer Admits Accepting Bribe

CAMDEN, N.J. – A correctional officer at the Salem County Correctional Facility today admitted accepting a bribe in exchange for agreeing to smuggle a telephone into the jail for a prisoner, U.S. Attorney Philip R. Sellinger announced.

Marcus Kidd, 36, of Elmer, New Jersey, pleaded guilty before U.S. District Judge Renée Marie Bumb in Camden federal court to an information charging him with one count of attempted extortion under color of official right.

According to documents filed in this and other cases and statements made in court:

In May 2022, Kidd agreed with a federal pretrial detainee housed at the Salem County Correctional Facility to smuggle a phone into the jail and provide the phone to the detainee in exchange for a $5,000 bribe. Kidd met with an associate of the detainee at a parking lot in Elmer, New Jersey, and accepted $5,000 in cash and a cell phone.

The count of attempted extortion under color of official right to which Kidd pleaded guilty carries a maximum potential penalty of 20 years in prison and a $250,000 fine. Sentencing is scheduled for Dec. 20, 2022.

U.S. Attorney Sellinger credited special agents with FBI, Philadelphia Field Office, under the direction of Special Agent in Charge Jacqueline Maguire, and Newark Field Office, under the direction of Special Agent in Charge James E. Dennehy, with the investigation leading to today’s guilty plea. 

The government is represented by Assistant U.S. Attorney Jeffrey Bender of the U.S. Attorney’s Office in Camden.