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| CO charged with trafficking drugs into jail |
| By The New Mexican |
| Published: 04/25/2005 |
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Until a few days ago, Amos Romero worked as a corrections officer at the Santa Fe County (N.M.) jail. Now, he's seeing the facility from an entirely different point of view. Romero was arrested and charged with two counts of conspiracy to traffic cocaine after law-enforcement officials unraveled an alleged scheme whereby he would smuggle drugs into the jail for inmates, according to court documents. Romero, who has resigned his post, was arraigned last Tuesday and ordered held on two $100,000 cash-only bonds. He is being held at the jail in a segregated cell away from the general population for his safety, said Deputy Warden David Osuna. According to an arrest-warrant affidavit filed in Magistrate Court, an inmate at the jail told a Santa Fe Police Department detective in April that he knew of "many narcotic transactions occurring between inmates" and Romero. Romero would first meet with inmates while he was at work, the inmate said, then would schedule a meeting with a friend of the inmate's -- usually a female friend. At that meeting, the inmate alleged, the friend would give Romero the narcotics to be transported into the jail and paid him $150 and $300 for smuggling the drugs. On April 6, police officers had the inmate schedule a meeting between Romero and a friend named "Maria," who was actually an undercover detective, according to the affidavit. Another detective then concocted what appeared to be an eight-ball of cocaine out of coffee creamer, baking soda and pieces of Sheetrock. The affidavit stated that Romero called the undercover detective and arranged to meet her at Allsup's on N.M. 14 -- just north of the jail. Romero asked the undercover officer for $300 to smuggle the alleged cocaine into the jail, according to the affidavit, but she only gave him $150. Romero delivered the cocaine to the inmate the next day, after taking about a gram for himself, according to the affidavit. Romero allegedly told the inmate he'd taken some of the drug because the undercover officer had only given him $150. "Amos warned (the inmate) that the cocaine was weak," according to the affidavit. Agents set up another exchange on April 17, when Romero asked for seven grams and $50 for himself in exchange for delivering an eight-ball to the inmate, according to a statement of probable cause filed April 19 in Magistrate Court. At that time, Romero arrived wearing his corrections officer uniform and was on his way to work his shift at the jail. Both Osuna and Warden Kerry Dixon admitted that keeping drugs out of the jail is a constant battle and one of their top priorities. |
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