Pubdate: Wed, 27 May 199
Source: New York Times (NY) 
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Website: http://www.nytimes.com/ 
Author: David Rohde

PRISON GUARD IN DRUG DEAL, PROSECUTORS SAY 

NEW YORK -- A guard at a federal prison in Manhattan has been accused of
conspiring this month with a jailed drug dealer to steal more than 100
kilograms of cocaine from a rival dealer and to sell the drugs himself on
the street, federal prosecutors said.

The guard, Roy Thomas, 35, of Brooklyn, first made contact with the drug
dealer in February when, federal prosecutors said, he smuggled in contraband
for the dealer in exchange for $1,500 in cash. Thomas was arrested on
Thursday and charged with bribery and conspiring to violate federal
narcotics laws.

U.S. Magistrate Naomi Reice Buchwald ordered Thomas held without bail.
Thomas' lawyer, Paul Madden, could not be reached for comment Tuesday night.
An accused co-conspirator of Thomas was arrested on Monday. The suspect, who
was not identified, was not a prison guard, investigators said. Thomas, an
employee of the federal Bureau of Prisons since 1991, has been assigned for
the last three years as a guard in the Metropolitan Correctional Center in
lower Manhattan.

In early February, an inmate serving time there on narcotics charges told
investigators that Thomas offered to provide him with a supply of specialty
foods, tattoo ink and alcohol in exchange for a $2,000 "retainer," according
to court papers.

Investigators then had the inmate's wife wire $1,000 to Thomas, prosecutors
said, and he later received another $500. Thomas delivered two small airline
vending-size bottles of scotch and rum to the inmate, according to court
papers. On May 19, Thomas conspired to steal 120 kilograms of cocaine that
the inmate said belonged to rival dealers who owed the inmate money,
according to the court papers. But Thomas and three other men fled without
carrying out the robbery.

If convicted on the narcotics charge, Thomas faces a minimum 10 years in
prison and a $4 million fine. If convicted of bribery, he faces up to 15
years in prison and a $250,000 fine.

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Checked-by: Melodi Cornett