RUSSELL GOLDMAN
ABC News
Four female correction officers were impregnated by the reported leader of a Maryland prison gang, which used a network of female prison guards to help launder money, run drugs and smuggle contraband into state detention facilities, according to a federal indictment.
One of the guards was twice impregnated by Tavon White, identified in court papers as the alleged leader of the Black Guerilla Family.
Two of the female correction officers tattooed “Tavon” on their bodies, one on her neck and another on the wrist, according to the indictment.
In one incident, one guard kept watch over a closet, in which White and another guard had sex, according to authorities.
Thirteen female and two male prison guards are facing federal corruption charges following a months long investigation into corruption and conspiracy at Maryland’s correctional facilities.
The indictment portrays a prison system run by inmates, including members of the Black Guerilla Family gang.
“This is my jail,” White, who is awaiting trial for attempted murder, bragged on a tapped phone call from the Baltimore City Detention Center. “I make every final call in this jail.”
The FBI spared few words for the leadership of the prisons, in which inmates used smuggled cell phones to arrange drug deals, as well as order assaults and murders outside the jail, according to the indictment.
White “effectively raised the BGF flag over the Baltimore City Detention Center,” FBI Special Agent Stephen Vogt, said in a statement.
“The inmates literally took over ‘the asylum,’ and the detention centers became safe havens for BGF,” Vogt said.
A total of 15 guards, seven inmates and five gang members were indicted in the conspiracy, according to the FBI.
Inmates bought contraband and gifts for guards, including luxury cars, using reloadable debit cards. And guards smuggled contraband in their underwear, using entrances where they knew they would not be thoroughly screened, the indictment states.
The Black Guerilla Family began in California in the 1960s but has since spread across the country. Gang members first appeared in Maryland prisons in the 1990s.
“Ninety-nine percent of our correctional officers do their jobs with integrity, honesty, and respect,” said Secretary Gary Maynard of the Maryland Department of Public Safety and Correctional Services.
According to Maynard, 60 percent of all correction officers in Maryland are women.
