HELENA – A Montana State Prison guard started smuggling tobacco to inmates in 2014 and then made up to $6,500 by selling them drugs and tobacco until he was arrested earlier this year, federal prosecutors said ahead of a court hearing Wednesday.
Martin Reap plans to plead guilty to a charge of accepting bribes for bringing in the drugs between Feb. 1, 2015 and April 30, 2016. A federal judge will decide whether to accept the plea deal that would dismiss charges of drug conspiracy, possession and distribution.
Ahead of Wednesday’s hearing in U.S. District Court in Helena, Assistant U.S. Attorney Joseph Thaggard filed a document with the court called an offer of proof that reveals more details about the scheme than had previously been released.
Inmates asked Reap, who started working at the Deer Lodge prison in 2012, to provide them with tobacco in 2014, according to the court document. Reap later smuggled in between nine and 16 ounces of marijuana and a small amount of synthetic marijuana along with the tobacco, Reap told an FBI agent.
The inmates, who have not been named by prosecutors, then distributed the drugs and tobacco to other prisoners, according to the document.
Associates of the inmates mailed between $100 and $150 to Reap’s home in payment for the transactions, adding up to between $6,300 and $6,500 by April, Thaggard wrote.
Reap’s federal defender did not return a call for comment. Prosecutors are expected to recommend a lighter sentence for Reap than the 10-year maximum prison sentence for the charge because he is accepting responsibility for his actions. Prosecutors also could move for an even lighter sentence if he cooperates with the investigation, according to the plea agreement.
Reap has been suspended without pay from his prison job since May.
FBI agents began investigating allegations of contraband being smuggled into the prison in 2015.
The investigation has led to a separate indictment charging five people with smuggling methamphetamine and another drug to inmates through a prison laundry worker.
Two women in Tennessee and a former Montana State Prison inmate got the drugs to Erin Bernhardt, the laundry worker, who then brought them to an inmate named Ian Scott Barclay, according to the indictment.
The five have pleaded not guilty to charges related to the alleged scheme. They are scheduled to go to trial on July 25.