‘Dangerous and foolish’: Florida guard accused of cocaine trafficking inside prison

MIAMI — A South Florida prison guard is accused of bringing cocaine into the facility where he worked, authorities announced Saturday.

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Sgt. Travis Samuel Thompson, 26, who worked at the Homestead Correctional Institution in Miami-Dade County, was arrested Thursday and charged with one felony count of cocaine trafficking, the Miami Herald reported. Bail was set at $25,000, and Thompson is under house arrest, according to Miami-Dade Corrections and Rehabilitation records.

“Bringing drugs into a prison is like lighting a match near an open container of gasoline, dangerous and foolish,” State Attorney Katherine Fernandez Rundle said in a statement. “Drugged inmates can be totally unpredictable and potentially violent as they relate to other inmates and to guards, placing everyone in danger. I commend the Miami-Dade Police Department and the investigators and prosecutors of our Miami-Dade State Attorney’s Office for aggressively pursuing this investigation.”

Thompson’s arrest was the culmination of a joint investigation between the state attorney’s office and the Miami-Dade Police Department, the Herald reported.

Thompson, who has worked for the Florida Department of Corrections since 2015, allegedly agreed to take a $3,000 payment and an undisclosed amount of cocaine into the prison, WTVJ reported.

Thompson was arrested after accepting the drugs and cash, WFOR reported.

Cox Media Group