Brooklyn Prison Guard Smuggling Weed To Inmate Caught By Dog: DA

BROOKLYN, NEW YORK — A former correction officer and an inmate’s girlfriend conspired to smuggle weed into the Brooklyn Detention Complex but were caught by a drug-sniffing dog, prosecutors said.

Samantha Pereira, 27, correction officer Patrick Gaillard, 30, and inmate Adam Franco, 23, were charged with bribery and conspiracy Wednesday for their plot to get drugs to Franco inside the Atlantic Avenue jail in April, the Brooklyn District Attorney’s office announced.

The smuggling job began on April 4 when Pereira and Gaillard met on Gallatin Place — a small side street in downtown Brooklyn — and Pereira handed Gaillard a $1,150 cash payment and two ounces of the drugs he was to deliver to her boyfriend, said prosecutors.

But when Gaillard showed up to work two days later, a guard dog sniffed out the secret stash in his pants pocket, prosecutors said.

The correction officer resigned from his job five days later, said prosecutors.

Pereira and Gaillard were arraigned Wednesday and released without bail from Brooklyn Criminal Court, where Franco is slated to be arraigned next week, prosecutors said.

All three are charged with promoting prison contraband and conspiracy, the couple faces bribery charges and Gaillard faces charges of corrupting the government, receiving bribes and drug possession, said prosecutors.

Gaillard, Pereira and Franco each face up to seven years in prison if convicted, prosecutors said.

Photo courtesy of GoogleMaps/Dec. 2017