FORMER NEW YORK CITY CORRECTION OFFICER SENTENCED TO A MAXIMUM TERM OF NINE YEARS IMPRISONMENT FOR TRYING TO SMUGGLE COCAINE TO AN INMATE AT THE CITY JAIL ON RIKERS ISLAND

Bronx District Attorney Robert T. Johnson announced today that a former New York City Correction Officer, 25 year old Gillian Guerra, has been sentenced to state prison for attempting to smuggle cocaine to an inmate at the City jail on Rikers Island.

Guerra was sentenced by Criminal Court Judge Michael Sonberg to a term of three to nine years imprisonment after pleading guilty last month to Attempted criminal possession of a controlled substance in the 3rd degree.

Guerra was arrested last month following an investigation by the Department of Investigation’s Inspector General for the Department of Correction. Guerra had served as a Correction Officer from December 2002 until May 2003 when he was laid off as a result of budget cuts. The defendant, a Brooklyn resident, admitted that he had smuggled two and a half ounces of simulated cocaine to an inmate in exchange for $1,600 from a DOI undercover detective who was posing as the inmate’s girlfriend.

The case was prosecuted by Assistant District Attorney Wanda Perez Maldonado of the Rackets Bureau.