Correctional Officer and Inmate Arraigned on Conspiracy to Introduce Contraband

Cleveland, OH — February 12, 2008 — Gregory A. White, United States Attorney for the Northern District of Ohio, today announced that Cametrius Shelton, of Youngstown, Ohio, and Adrian Ayers, an inmate in the Federal Bureau of Prisons system, were arraigned yesterday on a five-count indictment filed on February 5, 2008, charging the defendants with conspiracy to introduce contraband into the prison system and to bribe public officials.

The indictment charges that between October 1, 2006 and July 14, 2007, Shelton and Ayers participated in a scheme in which Shelton, then employed as a prison guard at the Elkton Federal Correctional Institution, (FCI Elkton), would bring Ayers, an inmate at FCI Elkton, contraband, including, but not limited to cell phones, MP3 players, and cigarettes. In return for smuggling in the contraband, an associate of Ayers who was not in prison, would send Shelton checks and wire transfers. In total, the investigation has uncovered Ayers and his associates sending Shelton at least $8,000 for Shelton to purchase and smuggle in contraband.

Assistant U.S. Attorney Duncan T. Brown of the Cleveland U.S. Attorney’s Office is prosecuting this case, following an investigation by the Office of the Inspector General, Department of Justice. An indictment is only a charge and is not evidence of guilt. A defendant is entitled to a fair trial in which it will be the government’s burden to prove guilt beyond a reasonable doubt.