Ex-prison counselor accused of inmate scam

He is charged with providing prohibited items to an inmate in the private NOCC.

By PATRICIA MEADE

VINDICATOR CRIME REPORTER

YOUNGSTOWN — A one-time counselor at the private prison on Hubbard Road slipped cocaine, cigarettes, cell phones and MP3 players to an inmate, the government said.

A federal grand jury in Cleveland issued a two-count indictment Thursday charging Michael K. Pearson, 35, of Fairmont Avenue, with bribery and providing contraband in prison. The indictment describes Pearson as a public official who accepted cash from an inmate for the prohibited items.

The indictment alleges that Pearson brought contraband into the Northeast Ohio Correctional Center from January through August 2006.

Pearson could not be reached.

Pearson was hired at NOCC on Dec. 6, 2004, and fired Aug. 25, 2006, for policy violations, said Candace Rivera, prison spokeswoman. Results of the prison’s investigation were turned over to the U.S. Department of Justice Office of the Inspector General and the U.S. attorney’s office in Cleveland.

Rivera said Pearson’s duties as a counselor required him to act as liaison between inmates and prison officials. Counselors take care of inmate’s issues, such as grievances, and make sure they complete work assignments, she said.

Special OIG Agent Terrence Hake described Pearson in a 12-page affidavit as a correction officer/counselor. Hake said an informant inside the prison revealed to guards that Pearson was bringing in prohibited items, such as marijuana, cigarettes, radios, MP3 players, body building supplements and heroin — for one inmate.

The inmate

An information was filed Thursday in federal court that charges the inmate, 30-year-old Mario A. Cantu-Galaviz, with bribing a public officer and possession of contraband in prison. An information means the defendant waived indictment and, in nearly all cases, reached a plea agreement with the government.

Pearson, during an interview with OIG agents, estimated he brought in cigarettes six times for Cantu-Galaviz and charged $200 to $300 per carton.

The cigarettes, with money orders enclosed in the package, were sent by Cantu-Galaviz’s mother to Pearson’s post office box, the government said.

Cantu-Galaviz’s mother once sent a cell phone with $600 to Pearson’s post office box — and he delivered the phone and kept the cash, the government said. There is no indication in court papers that she was charged.

Pearson, in an interview with federal agents, said he only brought in items for Cantu-Galaviz, adding the inmate didn’t say there would be three packets of cocaine in a package picked up from the post office Aug. 24, 2006. A money order for $1,000 sent with the cocaine was found above the visor in Pearson’s car, according to Hake’s affidavit.

Pearson told OIG agents that six or seven times he was paid with MoneyGrams — $300 each — sent to him by Cantu-Galaviz’s mother. Records, though, show 13 MoneyGrams totaling $5,975 were sent to Pearson from Cantu-Galaviz’s mother.

Pearson brought in cigarettes and pills in food boxes, and Cantu-Galaviz sold some of the contraband to other inmates, the government said. For example, Pearson told agents he brought to the prison 10 or 11 MP3 players that were sent to him and collected $50 each.

On Aug. 28, 2006, a package containing a teddy bear arrived at Pearson’s post office box. A postal inspector found 28 grams of cocaine inside the bear, court papers show.

Delayed release

In November 2005, Cantu-Galaviz was a Bureau of Prisons inmate sent to NOCC to serve 57 months for re-entry into the country as a deported alien, court papers show. His scheduled release was Feb. 27, but he has been detained pending the new charges.

A summons was sent to Pearson on Thursday, advising that he is scheduled for an initial appearance in Youngstown federal court at 1:30 p.m. June 8 before Magistrate Judge George J. Limbert.

In February, NOCC had 1,900 federal detainees, with 1,360 held via a contract with the federal Bureau of Prisons. The remaining 540 inmates are being held for the U.S. Marshals Service. Of those, roughly half are USM detainees from the Northern District of Ohio.

meade@vindy.com