Wyatt Prison Guard And Inmates Accused Of Smuggling Suboxone

CENTRAL FALLS, RI — A Donald W. Wyatt Detention Facility correctional officer, two detainees, and two former detainees are accused of participating in a scheme to smuggle Suboxone into the prison.

According to Acting U.S. Attorney Richard B. Myrus, inmates Emmanuel Nolasco, 34, and Matthew Pizarro, 32, communicated with former detainees Roosevelt Dale, 32, and Yahaira Cristina Contreras, 29, both of Providence, to provide Suboxone strips to correctional officer Kaii Almeida-Falcones, 25, who then smuggled the Suboxone inside the facility.

Dale had been released from the Wyatt in May 2020 after claiming he was at heightened risk to contract Covid-19, Myrus said in a news release.

On February 15, members of Wyatt's Professional Standards Unit searched Nolasco’s cell and seized dozens of loose strips and a 100-strip brick of Suboxone. Later that day, Almeida-Falcones was placed on paid leave and told by prison administrators not to return to the facility until told to do so.

The five are charged by way of criminal complaint with drug trafficking and providing contraband in prison.

Almeida-Falcones, Contreras, and Dale were arrested Friday morning by the U.S. Marshals Service and the FBI. They appeared before U.S. Magistrate Judge Patricia A. Sullivan. Dale was ordered detained and Almeida-Falcones and Contreras were released on conditions. Nolasco remains detained at Wyatt awaiting trial in an unrelated matter. Pizarro is currently incarcerated at the Hazelton penitentiary in Virginia.