Saturday, January 23, 1999
Felon guard case tough to explain
BY JANICE MORSE
The Cincinnati Enquirer
LEBANON — State authorities can't explain how a convicted felon, accused of trying to smuggle drugs into Lebanon Correctional Institution (LCI), was hired as a prison guard.
“We run the most thorough background checks available to us. Despite that, there are some people who could, I suppose, filter through,” Joe Andrews, spokesman for the Ohio Department of Rehabilitation and Correction, said Friday.
Arrested at the prison Thursday, James Earl Smith, 35, of Dayton, has a previous conviction for forgery. He also had two Ohio driver's licenses and two state identification cards, all bearing different names with Mr. Smith's photo, Butler County sheriff's officials said.
“Mistakes happen ... and sometimes these people are really good at deceiving. Obviously, he's been really good at this — and it caught up with him yesterday,” said Col. Richard K. Jones, Butler County's chief deputy sheriff.
Mr. Smith was arrested at LCI after sheriff's deputies say they watched an informant give him a $250 “delivery fee” and 4 ounces of marijuana in the parking lot of a McDonald's restaurant near the prison.
Police allege Mr. Smith charged a fee for delivering drugs to LCI inmates, who then are thought to have bartered or sold it to other prisoners. Mr. Smith told police he had smuggled drugs into the prison before, officials said.
Mr. Smith appeared in Butler County Area I Court in Oxford on Friday, where his bond was set at $10,000 cash. Michelle Nickel of Hamilton was appointed as his lawyer. She declined to comment Friday because she hadn't conferred with her client.
Mr. Smith, who is set for another court appearance Monday, is being held in the Butler County Jail on five charges.
Butler County authorities charged Mr. Smith with two misdemeanors, falsification and permitting drug abuse, and a felony count of preparing drugs for sale. Officials in Warren County, where the prison is, charged him with illegal conveyance of marijuana onto the prison grounds. He also faces a contempt of court charge filed by Montgomery County in a juvenile court case.
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