Security expert weighs in on Sarasota jail smuggling scheme caught on camera but missed for days
SARASOTA, Fla. (WFLA) — The Sarasota County Sheriff’s Office will not comment on how surveillance video was monitored during an inmate smuggling scheme that occurred in daylight hours on multiple days.
No one noticed from outside the jail on busy Ringling Boulevard, even though investigators said a brightly colored line made out of several jail-issued headphone chords was strung from a crack in a window on at least four different dates in October.
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Investigators reviewed surveillance video they allege shows inmate John Hicks chipping away at a corner of his cell window and later tying the line to a broom handle to fish up contraband that included crack cocaine.
Sheriff’s office spokesperson Evan Keats would not say if correctional officers monitor the surveillance cameras live.
“As for the surveillance videos, the sheriff’s office will not comment on how the agency conducts security matters,” Keats said.
Security expert Dean Draco of Eagle Eye Networks said protocols differ from state to state and department to department.
“I can tell you that in general most require security personnel to watch security monitors for long periods of time,” Draco said.
The video showed Hicks using a sheet to obscure the view of his cell from the cameras. An arrest affidavit states, “When the sheet is removed you can see the window has been altered.”
The camera’s view was also blocked at times by towels and blankets, according to the affidavit.
Draco said it is possible correctional officers can miss even what seems to be obvious due to factors including the number of cameras they are monitoring.
“A facility like that might have 100 or even 1000 cameras and if you have a few people watching that many cameras it’s pretty easy to miss stuff,” Draco said.
A total of six inmates were allegedly involved.
Antonio Blan,19, James Tolbert, 23, Juan Salazar-Diaz, 26, and LaDarius Richardson, 26, were charged with facility infractions and face internal sanctions.
Hicks, 37, and cellmate Michael Bodiker, 42, are charged criminally with smuggling contraband.
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The corrections officers did not do anything wrong, according to Keats.
“No personnel were reprimanded as there was no violation of policy,” Keats said.
Draco said artificial intelligence is now being used in limited locations to watch surveillance video.
“There’s new technology that can actually watch for all of these things. Tampering, camera blocking and alert people but that technology is new and hasn’t been deployed widely,” Draco said.
Keats said the investigation into who supplied the contraband was ongoing as of last month.
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