Bucks Co. Inmate Who Operated Drug Ring From Prison Sentenced

BUCKS COUNTY, PA — A Bucks County inmate had several years added to his sentence after he pleaded guilty to helping run a drug-smuggling operation inside Bucks County Correctional Facility.

Vincent McCandless, 35, of Huntingdon, was one of nine men — including a former correctional officer from Warminster — accused in June of being part of the opioid ring, which smuggled Suboxone strips into the jail.

McCandless pleaded guilty Thursday to contraband and criminal conspiracy. He was sentenced by Common Pleas Judge Jeffrey L. Finley to 35-70 months in prison, to be served after he completes his original sentence.

McCandless was serving a 4 1/2 to 10-year sentence on drug-dealing and weapons charges.

His son, a juvenile, also was charged in the jailhouse plot.

Prosecutors say Jennings — whose code name "Leonidas" was a reference to the historical Spartan warrior featured in the movie and graphic novel "300" — smuggled Suboxone into the jail multiple times between October 2018 and July 2019. During that time, he was a guard assigned to the restrictive housing unit at the Doylestown facility.

According to prosecutors, McCandless's son and another man, Joseph Robert Wilson, 40, of Philadelphia, provided the drugs to Jennings, who gave them to McCandless. McCandless then sold them to other inmates. Inmates who bought the drugs did so by various methods, often asking family members to wire money to McCandless's commissary account, said the Bucks County District Attorney's office.

Wilson and inmate Travis Davies, 33, of Levittown, already had pleaded guilty in the case. McCandless's son was adjudicated delinquent in juvenile court earlier this year.

The other five men charged in the operation have pre-trial hearings scheduled for next month.

Suboxone is an opiate legally used to diminish cravings for heroin and other opioids. It causes less euphoria than other opiates, doctors say, and is sometimes used illegally to ease withdrawal symptoms for opioid users.