NBC 10 I-Team: New charges filed in ACI phone-smuggling case
Prison cells in the medium security unit of the Adult Correctional Institutions in Cranston. (WJAR File Photo)
CRANSTON. R.I. (WJAR) — Three inmates are facing new charges over a smuggled cell phone at Rhode Island’s state prison.
Rhode Island State Police told the NBC 10 I-Team the charges are part of the same investigation that led to a civilian contractor at the prison being charged last August.
State police charged then 59-year-old speech therapist Inesa Vinarskaya with passing a phone to an inmate she was working with.
Rhode Island Attorney General Peter Neronha told the NBC 10 I-Team Vinarskaya was allegedly paid $1,200 to get the phone into the prison.
Now, state police are charging three inmates with unlawful possession of a phone.
Darrell Johnson, whose nickname is "Damage,” is locked up for a murder in 2012.
Prosecutors said at the time that he shot and killed 20-year-old Joshua Burgo behind a middle school in Pawtucket following a fight, took off, and was later captured in Virginia.
Sequoya Reels-Felder was one of eight people charged in connection with the 2019 killing of Stephen Cabral on Federal Hill.
He pled to conspiracy to commit a felony assault.
Fredrick Dahn was accused of raping and robbing an escort in 2015. He pled that down to assault.
State police are not saying what the inmates were allegedly doing with the cell phone.
Neronha said two of the inmates were caught trying to destroy the phone and flush it down the toilet.
The accusations appear to go back to last April.
At the time of Vinarskaya's arrest, the Department of Corrections told NBC 10 it takes "this type of allegations very seriously.”
The Department of Corrections said IVinarskaya no longer works at the ACI.
“We take such matters seriously and remain proud of the work done by our Office of Inspections and Correctional Officers. We are fortunate to have such diligent professionals who prioritize safety,” the department wrote in a statement to NBC 10.
Vinarskaya is free as the case plays out.
Reached by phone Wednesday, she told NBC 10 she has no comment.