Former MCSO officer gets 2 years for smuggling drugs into county jail in Buckeye
INDEPENDENT NEWSMEDIA
Posted 3/14/24
A former detention officer for the Maricopa County Sheriff’s office has been sentenced to two years in prison for smuggling meth and fentanyl into the Maricopa County Lower Buckeye Jail.
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METH/FENTANYL
Former MCSO officer gets 2 years for smuggling drugs into county jail in Buckeye
(MCSO)
Andres Salazar
Posted
INDEPENDENT NEWSMEDIA
A former detention officer for the Maricopa County Sheriff’s office has been sentenced to two years in prison for smuggling meth and fentanyl into the Maricopa County Lower Buckeye Jail.
Andres Salazar, 28, pleaded guilty in December to one count of “soliciting to commit promoting prison contraband,” according to a release from the Maricopa County Attorney’s Office. After serving his sentence, Salazar will be on four years of supervised probation.
Maricopa County Attorney Rachel Mitchell also announced Thursday that a grand jury has also indicted inmates Gilbert Anthony Lerma and Antwaun Travon Ware along with suspected dealer Khadar Omar Sheikh for their alleged involvement in the smuggling ring.
“Fentanyl is a poison that is seeping into every corner of Maricopa County. It is critically important that our jails remain drug-free,” Mitchell said. “My office will continue to support MCSO in its efforts to keep jails clean.”
Salazar was arrested as he arrived at work in November 2022.
“MCSO’s Custody Bureau Intelligence Division developed information indicating Salazar would be smuggling drugs into the jail for inmates Lerma and Ware in exchange for payments from outside sources,” an MCAO release stated.
At the time of his arrest, 58.3 grams of methamphetamine and more than 100 fentanyl pills were found in Salazar’s vehicle, officials said.
Sheikh is accused of procuring and transporting the drugs with the intention of bringing them into the jail.
Lerma was indicted on one count of conspiracy to commit promoting prison contraband.
Sheikh and Ware were each indicted on one count of conspiracy to commit promoting prison contraband, one count sale or transportation of a dangerous drug and one count of sale or transportation of a narcotic drug.
Sheriff Russ Skinner said Salazar's sentencing "is a direct result of the hard work and dedication by the MCSO's Custody Bureau Intelligence Division, our sworn investigators and MCAO prosecutors.
"The trafficking of drugs inside our facilities is dangerous and unacceptable and those that pose a public safety risk to our community and our staff members will continue to be held accountable."
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