Officer Who Plotted to Smuggle Contraband Into Jail Sentenced

The third of four corrupt Anne Arundel County detention center officers charged with bribery for smuggling cell phones and other contraband into jail inmates has been sentenced.

Kenyatta Ornell Trotter, 42, of Baltimore, was originally indicted in April on two counts of attempted bribery/public employee and four counts of misconduct in office. He pleaded guilty last month to the bribery charge

The Capital-Gazette reports Trotter was sentenced to 12 years behind bars, with all but three months suspended, on a charge of attempted bribery of a public employee. He pleaded guilty to the charge in October and will be on probation for three years after his jail sentence.

According to his plea agreement, Trotter and an inmate often discussed an agreement for the jail worker to smuggle drugs, alcohol and tobacco into the jail in exchange for money. The inmate was working with corrections officials investigating corruption at the facility.

All four of the officers no longer work for the county; at the time of their arrests they worked at the Jennifer Road center in Annapolis. A grand jury in April handed down a 61-count indictment against the four suspects on charges ranging from attempted bribery of a public employee to misconduct in office.

The illegal contraband brought into the jail included loose tobacco, cigarettes, smokeless tobacco, fast food, lighters, matches, an electronic cigarette and a cell phone and accessories.

Investigators said the officers hid the items on themselves, then left them at drop sites the inmates had access to in the center.

State’s Attorney Wes Adams previously said that while smuggling tobacco, fast food items and cell phones may seem minor, “cell phones in our jail present a true threat to the administration of justice in our county.”

Two of the three other former officers have already been sentenced, while the final suspect will appear in court next month.

They are:

Catherine Mae Windsor, 27, of Lothian, was arrested on 29 counts for smuggling cigarettes, loose tobacco, lighters, electronic cigarettes and a cellphone into the jail for the inmate. She pleaded guilty to bribery of a public employee, misconduct in office and delivery of a telecommunications device to a person in a place of confinement.

In September, Windsor was sentenced to five years in prison, with all but one year suspended. She is serving the first 90 days in a jail outside Anne Arundel County and the rest of the time she will be on house arrest. She must also repay the county $570 and serve three years probation.

Grayling Sylvester Jackson, 59, of Severn, was arrested on 10 counts tied to twice smuggling cigarettes, matches and chewing tobacco into the jail. In September he was sentenced to three years in jail, with all but six months suspended. He served the first 30 days of his sentence in jail, and will be under house arrest for the rest of his sentence, court officials said.

The final former officer facing charges, James William Newsome Jr., 25, of Mechanicsville, is scheduled to enter a plea on Dec. 8, according to online records. He was arrested on 14 criminal counts ranging from bribery of a public employee to possession of contraband with intent to deliver.