A corrections officer with Ohio’s state prison system was put behind bars himself after an investigation by a special unit of the Ohio State Highway Patrol that looks in to crimes that happen within some of the state’s prisons.
Police claim they found the man with 100 strips of suboxone, which are a prescription painkiller, in his car. The
Police arrested the man while he was on his way to work by pulling him over at a rest area alongside the interstate. According to reports, the man, who is only 28, had been working as a state prison guard since 2015. After his arrest, the agency in charge of the state’s prisons placed the man on a leave status until the charges against him get resolved.
He is facing multiple felony charges, including several drug crimes. The most serious of these allegations are that he was attempting to provide drugs to some of the inmates in the prison he was charged with keeping safe.
If convicted on the charges against him, the man may go from being a guard to being an inmate himself, as the charges carry with them the possibility of a lengthy prison sentence. Additionally, he could face serious fines and other penalties, such as probation. Additionally, it will be very hard for the man to work in the world of criminal justice in the future if he winds up convicted of a drug-related crime.
The man will therefore likely want to discuss how he can best protect his future, or at least salvage it, with an experienced Ohio criminal defense attorney. People should remember that he has the right to have his side of the story told, and, in fact, that it is the state which must prove him guilty beyond a reasonable doubt. It is also incumbent on the state to show its investigation was legal at every stage.