PROVIDENCE – A Massachusetts attorney admitted in court on Wednesday that she smuggled 10 sheets of paper soaked with synthetic marijuana into a Rhode Island federal prison in 2023.
Theresa Marie DiJoseph, 51, pleaded guilty in US District Court in Providence to several charges, including providing a prohibited object to an inmate, according to the Rhode Island US Attorney’s office.
Prosecutors said DiJoseph admitted to conspiring with three other people to smuggle the papers into Wyatt Detention Center in Central Falls, R.I. in late 2023.
“According to information presented to the court, DiJospeh used her status as an attorney to meet multiple times with detainee Shawn D. Hart, 47, with whom she had a personal relationship, in a visiting room used for attorney visits to conduct legal work,” prosecutors said in a statement.
Related: Massachusetts lawyer and detainees accused of trying to smuggle contraband into Rhode Island prison
“On Dec. 1, 2023, during an attempt to visit with Hart, Wyatt correctional officers seized from DiJoseph 10 sheets of paper that appeared discolored, thicker than normal, and to have been wet and dried,” officials said. “The papers were seized and later sent to an FBI testing lab that confirmed the presence of Schedule I controlled substances.”
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In court on Wednesday, DiJoseph also admitted she made false statements to the FBI during their investigation into how the contraband entered the prison.
She is scheduled to be sentenced on June 12.
Additionally, prosecutors announced Wednesday Matthew Pizarro, 36, a detainee at the Wyatt Detention Center, admitted he participated in a conspiracy to possess and distribute strips with Suboxone – the brand name of a prescription medication used in treating people who are addicted to opioids – inside the prison.
Surveillance video footage from the prison showed on Feb. 14, 2021, now former Correctional Officer Kaii Almeida-Falcones visited Pizarro’s cell for less than a minute, and then Pizarro quickly visited the cell of another detainee, Emmanuel Nolasco, 38.
“On February 15, 2021, a strip search of Nolasco revealed a package containing Suboxone strips. A search by Wyatt staff of Pizarro’s cell on the same date revealed a plastic bottle containing 4.5 grams of marijuana that was located inside Pizarro’s pillowcase,” prosecutors said. “The Suboxone strips were sent to a lab and confirmed to be 201 strips, five of which were partial strips, containing buprenorphine, which is an ingredient in Suboxone, a Schedule III controlled substance.”
Pizarro pleaded guilty to one count each of conspiracy to possess with intent to distribute controlled substances, distribution of Suboxone, and possession of contraband by an inmate. He is slated to be sentenced on June 10.
Almeida-Falcones, 31, of Smithfield, previously pleaded guilty in June 2024, while Nolasco pleaded guilty in June 2023.
Last month, Nolasco’s girlfriend, Yahaira Cristina Contreras, 32, of Providence, was sentenced to two years of supervised release after she admitted to providing the contraband that entered the prison.
H/T: www.bostonglobe.com
