Pubdate: Thu, 21 Aug 2003
Source: Fayetteville Observer (NC)
Copyright: 2003 Fayetteville Observer
Contact:  http://www.fayettevillenc.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/150
Author: Robert Boyer, Staff writer
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/prison.htm (Incarceration)
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/corrupt.htm (Corruption - United States)

JAILERS CHARGED WITH OFFENSES

Two Cumberland County jailers were charged Wednesday with having sex with 
inmates and selling alcohol, drugs and other items.

Latoya Christel Swartz was charged with nine counts of furnishing 
controlled substances and nine counts of possessing controlled substances.

She is charged with four counts of sexual activity by a custodian and three 
counts of trading contraband with inmates.

Swartz, 25, of the 7500 block of Overbrook Drive, is accused of providing 
liquor, food, prescription medicine, cigars and pornographic magazines to 
inmates and having sex with them.

Promises Malloy Ward, 24, of the 6400 block of Starbrook Drive, is charged 
with seven counts of trading contraband and one count of having sex with an 
inmate. Investigators say Ward wrote letters to an inmate, had sex with him 
and gave him a cell phone.

Bail was set at $1 million for Swartz; $1.2 million for Ward.

They were suspended with pay July 3, when the investigation began.

Sheriff Moose Butler said the jailers "do not represent the people who work 
in this jail day in and day out.

"We've got good people. We've made mistakes."

Ward and Swartz had worked as sworn officers at the jail since Sept. 30, 
Butler has said.

He said Wednesday that pre-employment background checks on Ward and Swartz 
showed no problems or prior criminal records.

Sheriff's Maj. Sam Pennica said the women began at the old jail and moved 
to the Detention Center when it opened in February. The jailers worked in 
permanent detention pods that house male inmates who are awaiting trial on 
felony charges, including murder.

Jailers work alone in the pods, Pennica said.

He said it appears that Ward and Swartz did not conspire with one another 
to bring in contraband.

Butler said jailers are trained "that they don't get personally involved 
with inmates."

He said investigators discovered that the alleged offenses had been going 
on for seven months.

Inmate Requests

Inmates asked for items and gave Ward and Swartz money to buy them, Pennica 
said. The jailers, he said, kept any money that was left over.

Pennica said the items became "bargaining tools for inmates."

Butler said the jailers carried the items in handbags. Jailers can no 
longer carry bags into the pods.

"We basically had to put procedures in place that say, 'We don't trust 
anybody,'" he said.

The jailers were fired last week, Pennica said. They had been out of the state.

Neither woman would comment on the charges.

They were being held in the Harnett County jail Wednesday and are scheduled 
to appear in Cumberland County Court today. Pennica said prosecutors will 
ask a judge to sign an order sending the women to Women's Prison in Raleigh 
to await trial.

Pennica said at least two more people may be charged when the State Bureau 
of Investigation and deputies finish the probe. Pennica said the 
investigation will continue for at least two weeks.
- ---
MAP posted-by: Jackl