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A corrections officer at SCI Camp Hill in Cumberland County, Pennsylvania, has been suspended without pay after allegedly attempting to smuggle drugs into the prison for an inmate.
Alicya Kent, 35, of Red Lion, was caught with PCP during a random search of prison staff in January, according to charges filed Monday by the Department of Corrections.
During the search, a K-9 alerted handlers to Kent, who had been in a bathroom just before being searched. When officers took the dog to the bathroom, it alerted them to a trash can containing a clear bag with papers saturated in what testing later confirmed to be phencyclidine (PCP).
According to the criminal complaint, Kent admitted to investigators that she planned to give the contraband to an inmate in exchange for $1,500. The investigation revealed Kent and the inmate had been communicating through an inmate messaging system.
"Kent also allegedly admitted she knew the papers she had were saturated in a substance, but she didn't know exactly what," the DOC said. Kent reportedly told investigators she had more drug-laced papers and films of Buprenorphine at her home that she intended to bring to the inmate.
When authorities searched Kent's residence, they seized nine pages of paper, including three that she had already brought into the prison, and 19 unopened packages of suboxone.
Kent faces multiple felony charges including criminal use of a communication facility, contraband/controlled substance, and misdemeanor drug offenses. She was arraigned on Wednesday by Magisterial District Judge Christopher Delozier and released on $5,000 unsecured bail.
A preliminary hearing for Kent has been scheduled for April 2.