Former Faribault prison guard accused of smuggling drugs to inmate

FARIBAULT, Minn. — A correctional officer at a southern Minnesota prison is accused of smuggling drugs to one of the inmates earlier this month, authorities announced Wednesday.

The guard, 43-year-old Lindsey Adams of Farmington, is charged with third-degree possession of methamphetamine and introducing contraband into a state correctional facility, the Rice County Attorney's Office said. The alleged exchange occurred at the Minnesota Correctional Facility in Faribault.

Department of Corrections investigators learned she was meant to deliver drugs to an inmate inside the prison's gym on the afternoon of Sept. 3 and asked Faribault police to assist.

Authorities saw the inmate and guard making an exchange on live video, according to prosecutors. Prison staff detained the inmate while the guard was taken to be interviewed.

Prosecutors said Adams, in a post-Miranda interview, first denied bringing drugs into the prison. She later allegedly confessed to having 101 anti-depressant pills and a substance later identified as meth in her pocket, but still denied giving anything to the inmate.

A search of her phone found a text message saying, "I will bring the pills for sure I'm not sure about the other s***," prosecutors said.

Adams allegedly said the plot began when a man approached her at a gas station and later texted her with an offer to make some money.

She no longer works with the Department of Corrections. She made her first court appearance on Wednesday, where her bail was set at $100,000.

Earlier this year, family and friends of inmates at the Faribault prison accused state officials of withholding information about a series of lockdowns. The advocates said it was not staff shortages that caused the lockdowns, but drug overdoses .

A WCCO investigation also showed some Minnesota prisons are changing the way they process mail due to dangerous synthetic drugs making their way inside.