James Stephen Rolen, 31, a former corrections officer who had worked at Sheridan federal prison since 2003, received the sentence Monday by U.S. District Judge Garr M. King, said Assistant U.S. Attorney Hannah Horsley. Rolen pleaded guilty in November after an indictment on charges related to receiving a bribe to smuggle heroin, marijuana and drug paraphernalia to inmates.
Last February, FBI agents and prison authorities investigating the smuggling of contraband into the prison obtained a wiretap of Rolen's cell phone, Horsley said.
FBI agents listened to phone calls between Rolen and inmate Alfredo Carranza Jr., who asked Rolen to smuggle heroin and marijuana, promising to pay about $2,000. Carranza's juvenile sister gave Rolen part of that money. Carranza also asked Rolen to smuggle in a digital scale, water balloons and plastic wrap to conceal the drugs within the prison, Horsley said.On Feb. 23, 2007, Rolen met with Eliverio Martinez-Franco in a rural area near a Salem dairy farm to pick up black tar heroin and marijuana, Horsley said. Rolen was arrested two days later when he tried to enter the prison carrying a backpack filled with the drugs and paraphernalia.Carranza was sentenced in November to 30 months in prison on convictions of bribery and conspiracy to distribute heroin and marijuana, Horsley said. Carranza's sentence will start after he finishes the 97-month sentence he already was serving for a federal methamphetamine conviction from Sacramento, Calif., Horsley said.Martinez-Franco pleaded guilty to federal heroin charges and faces sentencing April 7.
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