He was hired to guard Connell prison inmates. Now he’s accused of trying to give them meth

A Connell corrections officer is accused of trying to sneak a bag of methamphetamine and a cellphone inside prison walls for an inmate.

Samuel E. Sanchez, 22, claimed he was going to be paid $250 for the drugs and phone, according to court documents.

Instead, Sanchez ended up in handcuffs after an investigator at the Coyote Ridge Corrections Center, about 35 miles north of Pasco, got word of the deal, say investigators.

Sanchez resigned Tuesday — the same day as his arrest.

He had been hired by the state Department of Corrections in October 2017 and became a permanent employee in October 2019, according to spokeswoman Janelle Guthrie.

The department will be conducting its own review of the incident, she said.

Sanchez has been out of custody on his personal recognizance since his appearance earlier this week in Franklin County Superior Court.

On Thursday, he was charged with possessing meth with intent to deliver and attempted introduction of contraband.

The felony delivery charge includes the special allegation that the crime happened within a state corrections facility, and could add more time to a prison sentence if he’s convicted.

The introducing contraband charge is a gross misdemeanor.

Being watched by prison investigator

Sanchez, who lives in Connell, is scheduled to return to court next week to enter a plea.

Court documents show that the investigative unit at Coyote Ridge contacted the Connell Police Department on Monday.

The call was passed on to Officer Dionicio Arteaga, who spoke with the investigator and was told that information collected over time showed Sanchez would be trying to bring illegal items into the prison’s minimum-security units, documents said.

Sanchez was scheduled to work at 10 p.m. Monday.

The investigator said he would be doing surveillance on the guard that night, and would call Arteaga if Sanchez was found with any contraband.

Hid drugs, cell in pants

Arteaga was called to the prison at 4 a.m. Tuesday.

The investigator said he watched Sanchez walk out to his car in the parking lot, retrieve some items and conceal them in the front of his pants, court documents said.

Sanchez then entered the facility through the public access area and continued into the prison’s secured area, documents said.

That’s when the investigator reportedly intervened and asked to speak with Sanchez.

The corrections officer initially denied having anything stashed in his clothes. But when specifically asked what he got from his car, Sanchez reached into a pocket and pulled out a plastic bag holding several smaller bags filled with a crystal-like substance and a phone, court documents state.

Sanchez was then arrested.

Meet-up held in Pasco

He told Arteaga that he was serving as the middleman for a prisoner locked up on drug charges and a person from Walla Walla.

He claimed that before work Monday, he drove to a Pasco store to meet with a man named “Rusty” who was from Oregon, documents said.

He alleged that Rusty gave him the plastic bag, which he believed held cocaine, and then Sanchez returned home. At some point, he stopped at another store to buy the cellphone.

Sanchez claimed he went out to his car during his shift “because it was good timing” and that his intent was to hand over the items to the inmate, court documents said.

He had been told he’d get paid $250, documents said.

Arteaga said a test of the drugs came back positive for meth.

This story was originally published January 9, 2020 at 12:52 PM.