Ex-federal prison nurse gets 6-year sentence for smuggling drug-soaked paper to inmates

A former federal prison nurse in Miami will spend the next six years in prison for illegally smuggling drug-soaked sheets of paper for inmates and accepting bribes that netted him $150,000, U.S. prosecutors announced Friday.

Ruben Montanez-Mirabal, 33, was sentenced in Miami federal court Wednesday, according to the U.S. Attorney's Office in the Southern District of Florida. Montanez-Mirabal's sentencing comes after he pleaded guilty in March to conspiring to receive bribes and bringing drugs into the Federal Detention Center, prosecutors said.

Ex-federal prison nurse used an elaborate scheme to smuggle drugs

From November 2021 through late August 2022, Montanez-Mirabal illegally took payments from inmates to smuggle in more than 100 pages soaked with synthetic cannabinoids into the downtown Miami prison, authorities said.

Montanez-Mirabal would deliver the drugs directly to the inmates or hide them in places where inmates could find them later. The inmates would sell the drugs for about $1,500 per page, prosecutors said.

In exchange for the deals, Montanez-Mirabal made about $150,000 in bribes and also got free access to luxury cars including a Lamborghini and a Rolls-Royce, prosecutors said.

Synthetic cannabinoids are becoming big problems in correctional facilities, expert says

Synthetic cannabinoids, also referred to as "SC," "K2" or "Spice," are part of a group of drugs called new psychoactive substances (NPS), according to the National Institutes of Health.

They are "human-made mind-altering chemicals that are either sprayed on dried, shredded plant material so they can be smoked or sold as liquids to be vaporized and inhaled in e-cigarettes and other devices," the NIH said. They are called cannabinoids due to similar chemicals found in marijuana and are often called synthetic marijuana or fake weed and seen as a misleading alternative, the NIH added.

The drugs have become a big problem in contraband smuggling in jails and prisons that officers need to be aware of, said Michael Frunzi, a senior scientist and business development manager with Smiths Detection, a tech company specializing in screening for weapons and drugs.

Synthetic cannabinoids are most frequently dissolved in a liquid and sprayed on materials, including paper and dried leaves, that can make it a convenient drug to smuggle by mail, Frunzi said. And if a drug-soaked paper gets inside a facility, it can be chopped into small pieces for individual doses for distribution and sold for hundreds of dollars, like in the Miami federal prison.

"Depending on which cannabinoid was used, the effect can be dramatically different. No one really knows what the physiological effects of this illicit substance are going to be until it’s too late," Frunzi said. "We’ve heard stories where it causes extreme violence, it causes psychopathic behavior, dramatic resistance to pain, paranoia, delusions – just very dangerous behavior."

This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Ex-prison nurse gets 6 years for smuggling drug-laced paper to inmates