Man heads to prison for trying to smuggle drugs onto CCA grounds

YOUNGSTOWN — A man convicted of trying to smuggle illegal drugs onto the grounds of Community Corrections Association on Market Street will be going to prison.

Gregory Richardson, who listed the Market Street CCA facility as an address, pleaded guilty Wednesday to attempted illegal conveyance of prohibited items onto the grounds of a detention facility before Judge R. Scott Krichbaum of Mahoning County Common Pleas Court.

Judge Krichbaum immediately sentenced Richardson to 18 months in prison, the maximum he could receive for the fourth-degree felony charge.

J. Michael Thompson, an assistant county prosecutor, said Richardson was originally charged with bringing the drugs onto the facility grounds, a fifth-degree felony for which he could have been sentenced to five years in prison. That charge was amended to the lesser charge in a plea agreement with prosecutors.

According to police reports, Richardson was searched when he attempted to enter the CCA facility in early June and employees at the facility found one large bag containing suspected marijuana along with 11 smaller bags containing the suspected drug stuffed down his pants.