Brooklyn Prison Guard Smuggled Drugs, Assaulted Inmates: Feds

BROOKLYN, NY — A Brooklyn federal prison guard pleaded guilty Wednesday to selling drugs for bribes and sexually assaulting inmates, federal prosecutors said. Armando Moronta of Boerum Hill admitted to bringing synthetic marijuana and painkillers into the Metropolitan Detention Center in Sunset Park, where he also abused female inmates, prosecutors said.

Moronta pleaded guilty to charges including narcotics conspiracy, which carries a maximum 20-year prison sentence, as well as bribery and four counts of sexual abuse of a ward, which each carry a possible 15-year sentence. He also has to register as a sex offender and pay back $15,000 in bribes, prosecutors said.

"This case serves as a reminder that correctional officers who would so compromise the well-being of their colleagues and charges will be held accountable to the fullest extent of the law," Bridget M. Rohde, the acting U.S. attorney for New York's Eastern District, said in a statement.

Prosecutors say Moronta, 39, smuggled cellphones and drugs into the 1,800-inmate co-ed prison on a dozen occasions between March and December 2016. He gave male inmates the painkiller suboxone and synthetic marijuana, or K2, in exchange for thousands of dollars in bribes, prosecutors said.

Moronta was separtely accused of sexually forcing himself on three female inmates between May and June 2016, prosecutors said. He allegedly fondled one woman and forced others to perform oral sex on him while he was on guard duty in their unit.

The U.S. Bureau of Prisons suspended Moronta from duty after his initial arrest on the bribery and narcotics charges, prosecutors said.

(Lead image: The Metropolitan Detention Center in Sunset Park, Brooklyn. Photo from U.S. Bureau of Prisons)