Corrections officer sentenced in drug smuggling attempt at Fort Myers work camp
A Port Charlotte man working as a corrections officer at a Fort Myers work camp will serve 30 months in prison after he tried smuggling drugs into the facility.
United States District Judge Thomas P. Barber has sentenced Leslie Spencer, 49, to the two-and-a-half-year term in federal prison. Spencer had pleaded guilty in September.
According to court records, Spencer worked as a correctional officer at the Charlotte Correctional Institution’s offsite work camp on Ortiz Avenue in Fort Myers.
The FBI learned that Spencer was accepting payments from prisoners in exchange for smuggling contraband into the prison, including drugs and cellphones.
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In March 2021, Spencer agreed to smuggle 3 ounces of methamphetamine, 3 ounces of MDMA, and two cellphones into the prison for an inmate working as an FBI confidential source.
Spencer told the confidential source to make sure the items were packaged in a way that they could be discreetly brought into the prison. Spencer also told the source of additional steps that he would take to avoid security measures.
Spencer met with an undercover FBI special agent posing as a supplier of drugs in the parking lot of a Fort Myers retail store, where the undercover agent provided Spencer with sham methamphetamine and MDMA, cellphones, and payment for the smuggling operation.
Upon leaving the store federal agents arrested Spencer.
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This article originally appeared on Fort Myers News-Press: Officer at Fort Myers work camp sentenced in drug smuggling attempt
