Owings Mills Man Sentenced To 3 Years For Racketeering Conspiracy

OWINGS MILLS, MD – An Owings Mills man has been sentenced to more than three years in federal prison for a racketeering conspiracy.

Chaz Chriscoe, 40, will also have three years of supervised release from the Jessup Correctional Institution, the Maryland U.S. Attorney's Office announced Wednesday. Officials said the conspiracy included former correctional officers, inmates and outside "facilitators," like Chriscoe, who paid bribes to correctional officers to smuggle contraband, including narcotics, alcohol, tobacco and cell phones into the prison.

On May 3, JCI inmate Darnell Smith, 40, pleaded guilty to his role in the racketeering conspiracy. He faces up to 20 years in prison.

According to their plea agreements, since 2017 until their arrests in 2020, Chriscoe and Smith conspired with JCI correctional officers, inmates and outside facilitators to smuggle in contraband in order to enrich themselves and protect and expand their criminal operation, officials said.

Officials said correctional officers accepted or agreed to accept payments from facilitators and inmates or engaged in sexual relations with inmates as consideration for smuggling contraband into the facility. Inmates acted as wholesalers and retailers of contraband and in the process made profits that officials said far exceeded that profits that could be made by selling similar drugs on the street.

According to the district attorney's office, Chriscoe maintained relationships with several inmates and correctional officers at JCI, and acted as the primary conduit through which coconspirators would get contraband.

A total of nine defendants have pleaded guilty to their roles in the racketeering conspiracy. Six defendants are still facing charges.

“Prison corruption does not just endanger the lives of correctional officers and of the inmates entrusted to their care and supervision, but of the entire community, as it allows inmates to direct criminal activity from their prison cells” said Acting United States Attorney Jonathan F. Lenzner in a prepared statement. “The United States Attorney’s Office will continue to work with our law enforcement partners to root out prison corruption and prosecute correctional officers and others who facilitate and engage in criminal behavior.”