CHARLOTTE — Another detention officer with the Mecklenburg County Detention Center has been fired and criminally charged for allegedly providing illegal items to a person in custody, according to the Mecklenburg County Sheriff’s Office.
The sheriff’s office says Goodwin Stuppard is accused of “providing a cell phone and smuggling tobacco products to a resident” in the jail.
It’s the second arrest of an MCSO detention officer in two days. Channel 9 reported Monday that former MCSO employee Samara Black was fired and arrested for allegedly bringing a cell phone to an inmate.
State law prohibits incarcerated individuals from having a cellphone. It is also a felony for someone to provide a phone or other communications device to someone in custody at a local confinement facility.
[ RELATED: Employee at Meck jail arrested after giving inmate contraband, authorities say ]
According to the sheriff’s office, detectives got a tip that Stuppard was smuggling illegal items into the jail, so an investigation was opened. The sheriff’s office says Stuppard admitted to providing tobacco products and “charging a cellular phone and giving it back” to an inmate.
Authorities say Stuppard had been with MCSO since December 2015.
This browser does not support the video element.