Connecticut Correction Officer Who Attempted to Smuggle Drugs into Prison Sentenced

Deirdre M. Daly, United States Attorney for the District of Connecticut, announced that Arcolain Fountain, 47, of Hamden, was sentenced today by U.S. District Judge Alvin W. Thompson in Hartford to three years of probation for attempting to smuggle oxycodone into the prison where he was employed. Fountain was also ordered to perform 300 hours of community service.

According to court documents and statements made in court, Fountain was a correction officer at Cheshire Correctional Institution in Cheshire. On July 17, 2012, Fountain met with an undercover officer with the Statewide Narcotics Task Force at a commuter lot off Interstate 84 in Southington to accept what he believed were 90 oxycodone pills. Fountain was planning to smuggle the oxycodone pills into the Cheshire Correctional Institute and deliver them to an inmate housed there. During the meeting with the undercover officer, Fountain also accepted $450 in cash and a quantity of Ecstasy pills as payment for delivering the oxycodone to the inmate. Fountain was arrested at that time.

On December 18, 2012, Fountain waived his right to indictment and pleaded guilty to one count of attempting to possess with the intent to distribute a controlled substance.

This matter was investigated by the Statewide Narcotics Task Force, the Connecticut Department of Correction, and the Cheshire Police Department, with the assistance of the Federal Bureau of Investigation. The case was prosecuted by Special Assistant U.S. Attorney Michael W. Ahearn.