A former Southern State corrections officer has been convicted of helping smuggle drugs and tobacco into the facility.
Steven Saunders, 51, of Camden, has been suspended since his arrest in November 2017.
A jury found Saunders conspired with inmate Lakovian Shepherd and the inmate’s girlfriend, Tasha N. Swain, to smuggle drugs and tobacco to inmates in the Cumberland County prison from March 2016 through November 2017.
In return, Saunders received bribes in the form of payments made by friends or relatives of the inmates outside the prison. Inmates arranged through their associates on the outside for funds to be transferred to Swain using Western Union. Swain – under the direction of Saunders and Shepherd – used the funds to pay Saunders and purchase pills, marijuana and tobacco, which she delivered to Saunders to smuggle into the prison.
Saunders charged as much as $75 for a pack of loose tobacco and as much as $1,000 for an ounce of marijuana.
Saunders was arrested on Nov. 20, 2017, after he met Swain in a parking lot in Evesham, where she gave him 40 grams of marijuana and 17 oxycodone pills to smuggle into prison, along with $1,000 cash.
The State Police stopped Saunders’ vehicle and arrested him with the drugs and cash.
He is scheduled to be sentenced Sept. 6.
