An inmate at the Jackson County Detention Center was sentenced in federal court recently for leading a conspiracy to smuggle contraband cell phones and other items into the jail.

Carlos Laron Hughley, 33, of Kansas City, Mo., was sentenced by U.S. District Judge Gary A. Fenner to six years and six months in federal prison without parole.

The court ordered the federal sentence be served consecutively to any sentence that may be imposed in an unrelated state case in which Hughley is charged with domestic assault, armed criminal action, careless and imprudent driving, possession of a controlled substance and resisting arrest.

On Feb. 14, 2018, Hughley pleaded guilty to one count of conspiracy and one count of using a telephone in furtherance of unlawful activity. While he was an inmate in the Jackson County Detention Center, Hughley was the ringleader of a scheme to smuggle contraband (including a cell phone and charging cable) into the jail. Aided and abetted by minions outside the jail acting at his direction, Hughley bribed a former corrections officer, Jalee Caprice Fuller, 30, of Independence, Mo., to smuggle contraband to inmates at the detention center between May 2 and June 26, 2017.

Hughley is the father of an infant child he conceived with Fuller. According to court documents, Hughley used the affections Fuller had for him to convince her to violate the trust placed in her as a corrections officer and participate in the contraband smuggling scheme.

Fuller, as well as co-defendant Marion Lorenzo Byers, also known as “Cuddy,” 36, of Kansas City, Mo., also have pleaded guilty and been sentenced. Co-defendant Janikkia Lashay Carter, 36, of Kansas City, Mo., also has pleaded guilty and awaits sentencing.

Each defendant participated in multiple recorded telephone calls where various aspects of the contraband smuggling scheme were discussed. Byers, an associate of Hughley’s, delivered the contraband to Carter, one of Hughley’s former love interests. Knowing that Carter still had feelings for him, and despite the fact that Hughley was professing to Fuller that he only wanted to be with her, Hughley used the affections Carter had for him to convince her to commit the crime of smuggling contraband into the jail. Carter in turn delivered contraband to Fuller. Fuller used her position as a corrections officer to smuggle the contraband to Hughley inside the detention center.

In a separate case arising from the federal investigation, another former corrections officer, Andre Lamonte Dickerson, 26, of Kansas City, Mo., pleaded guilty to two counts of using a telephone in furtherance of the unlawful activity of acceding to corruption, related to a public servant taking a bribe in return for violating his legal duty. Dickerson admitted that he told a confidential informant that he would smuggle two packs of cigarettes, a cell phone and a cell phone charger to an inmate in the detention center for $500. Dickerson is scheduled to be sentenced on Aug. 31, 2018.

These cases are being prosecuted by Deputy U.S. Attorney Gene Porter and Assistant U.S. Attorney Brent Venneman. They were investigated by the FBI and the Jackson County, Mo., Sheriff’s Department with assistance from the Missouri Department of Corrections, the Kansas City, Mo., Police Department and the Jackson County Detention Center.

Share