Four Individuals Indicted For Smuggling Contraband Into Dauphin County Prison

HARRISBURG – The United States Attorney’s Office for the Middle District of Pennsylvania announced today that on July 31, 2020, Danny Cruz, age 42 of Harrisburg, PA, Aida Rosado, age 60 of Harrisburg, and Lizarah Matthews, age 28 of York, PA, were indicted for their role in smuggling cellular telephones and contraband into Dauphin County Prison (DCP) in late 2015 and early 2016.  At the time, Cruz was an inmate in the prison. Matthews was a paramour of another inmate in the prison.

Separately, Alice Martinez, age 41, of Chambersburg, was also indicted by a federal grand jury for her role in a conspiracy to smuggle cellular telephones and contraband into Dauphin County Prison in 2015.  Her brother was an inmate in the prison facing federal charges.

According to United States Attorney David J. Freed, the indictments allege that Cruz and other inmates bribed corrections officers and staff to smuggle cellular telephones into the prison. They arranged for people outside of the prison to get the phones and pay the bribes to DCP staff. Lizarah Matthews was the girlfriend of an inmate in the prison. Aida Rosado is the mother of Cruz. Alice Martinez is the sister of an inmate at the prison.  The bribe payments and smuggling were facilitated by transferring money through Western Union and MoneyGram.

The case was investigated by the Federal Bureau of Investigation with the assistance of Dauphin County Prison and the Dauphin County Criminal Investigation Division.  Assistant U.S. Attorneys Michael Consiglio and Chelsea Schinnour are prosecuting the case.

Indictments and Criminal Informations are only allegations. All persons charged are presumed to be innocent unless and until found guilty in court.

A sentence following a finding of guilt is imposed by the Judge after consideration of the applicable federal sentencing statutes and the Federal Sentencing Guidelines.

The maximum penalty under federal law for this offense is five years of imprisonment, a term of supervised release following imprisonment, and a fine. Under the Federal Sentencing Guidelines, the Judge is also required to consider and weigh a number of factors, including the nature, circumstances and seriousness of the offense; the history and characteristics of the defendant; and the need to punish the defendant, protect the public and provide for the defendant's educational, vocational and medical needs. For these reasons, the statutory maximum penalty for the offense is not an accurate indicator of the potential sentence for a specific defendant.

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