More prison and jail guards break bad, a former Pennsylvania police chief led a one-man crime wave, and more. 

[image:1 align:left]

In San Luis Rio Colorado, Sonora, Mexico, an Arizona state prison guard was arrested on September 15 for trying to smuggle thousands of rounds of ammunition into the country for the Sinaloa cartel. Guard Yanet Dowden went down when Mexican security forces intercepted her vehicle just yards from the port of entry connecting San Luis, Arizona, with San Luis Río Colorado, Sonora, and found 5,445 live rounds of ammunition. 

In Miami, a Miami-Dade jail guard was arrested on October 1 for his role in a drugs, gambling, and firearms ring. Renel Terrance Troutman, 24, conspired with an unnamed individual in a "criminal enterprise engaged in narcotics trafficking, gambling, fraud, money laundering and related criminal activity," according to charging documents. The ring smuggled contraband, including the synthetic cannabinoid K2, into the prison where Troutman worked. Federal investigators seized more than 2,000 doses of K2 stuffed inside a medical glove. He is charged with conspiracy to possess narcotics with intent to distribute, extortion and racketeering.

In Pensacola, Florida, a Pensacola police officer was arrested October 12 on felony drug charges. Officials from the Pensacola Police Department and the Florida Department of Law Enforcement arrested Officer Matthew Baxter after an investigation. Further details have not been released yet. 

In Brunswick, Georgia, a former prison guard was sentenced on September 21 to four years in prison for taking $80,000 in bribes to smuggle drugs and cellphones into Federal Correctional Institution Jesup. Ashley Brown, 37, pleaded guilty to 24 counts of a public official accepting a bribe and 16 counts of money laundering. During a period of months in 2022, Brown accepted payments through Cash App from inmates to smuggle in contraband including methamphetamine, K2, marijuana, and cellphones. Two inmates also got more prison time for their roles in the scheme. 

In Kittanning, Pennsylvania, a former Arnold police chief pleaded guilty on October 7 to selling cocaine and stealing an AR-15 rifle from the Arnold Police Department evidence room. In a plea agreement, former chief Eric Doutt pleaded guilty to felony charges of possession of drugs with the intent to distribute, criminal use of a communications facility, and receiving stolen property. He also pleaded to a misdemeanor count of receiving stolen property related to the AR-15. In return, prosecutors dropped five more charges for possession with intent to distribute, three for theft, one for tampering with physical evidence, and another for use or possession of drug paraphernalia. Doutt went down after he was surveilled selling cocaine to an informant, and the AR-15 was found during a subsequent search of his home. So were cocaine, scales, a bag containing a cutting agent, lidocaine hydrochloride, leg shackles with "APD" engraved on them, a portable radio reported missing from the department, and an Arnold police jacket. He faces up to 42 years in state prison if the judge sentences him consecutively on the charges.