Three Rikers Island correction officers were indicted Tuesday on charges they smuggled oxycodone and cocaine into the jail, authorities charge.
Steven Dominguez and Divine Rahming allegedly brought narcotics and other contraband into the facility for inmates willing to pay a hefty premium, court papers show.
The officers met with city Department of Investigation agents posing as friends and family of inmates between February and June. The rogue officers agreed to smuggle and deliver each batch of contraband for $500 to $900 a pop, authorities said.
Dominguez and Rahming also allegedly tried to escalate their scheme and struck up an agreement in June to be cocaine couriers for a DEA agent posing as a drug trafficker.
Dominguez even bragged to the undercover that he had a gun and badge, authorities said. The duo were busted in a Bronx parking lot at 40 W. 225th St. in possession of 8 ounces of cocaine and marijuana that they allegedly intended to smuggle into the jail.
They pleaded not guilty at their arraignment Tuesday to multiple counts of conspiracy, criminal possession of a controlled substance, bribe receiving and promoting prison contraband.
In a separate indictment, former correction officer Deleon Gifth was charged with similar but unrelated crimes. Gifth was paid $500 for delivering what he believed to be oxycodone pills to an inmate in February. He resigned two months later.
“Three correction officers are charged with abusing their positions for monetary gain,” said Special Narcotics Prosecutor Bridget Brennan. “By smuggling drugs into a correctional institution, they undermined the security of everyone at Rikers Island — inmates, officers and staff.”
The girlfriend of an inmate was also busted for buying what she thought was oxycodone from an undercover officer and smuggling it to her man.
The joint five-month investigation was conducted by the DOI, Office of the Special Narcotics Prosecutor and the DEA.