HARRISBURG – Attorney General Tom Corbett Thursday announced that agents from the Attorney General’s Public Corruption Unit have arrested two Somerset County residents accused of conspiring with a former corrections officer to smuggle heroin and other contraband into the Somerset County Jail.
Corbett identified the defendants as Douglas Weigle, 42, and Pamela Massey, 40, both of Somerset.
Corbett said that Weigle and Massey allegedly conspired with former Somerset County corrections officer Jeremy Lensbouer to smuggle heroin and other contraband to an inmate housed in the Somerset County Jail. Criminal charges were filed against Lensbouer on July 19 for his alleged role in the conspiracy.
Corbett said the criminal charges against Weigle, Massey and Lensbouer are the result of an investigation that began in May 2005 into allegations that drugs and other contraband were being smuggled to inmates in the Somerset County Jail.The case was referred to the Attorney General’s Public Corruption Unit by Somerset County District Attorney Jerry Spangler.
According to the criminal charges, a May 2005 internal investigation into suspected contraband smuggling at the Somerset County Jail resulted in the monitoring of phone calls from inmates to individuals outside the jail. During the period from May 18, 2005, to May 30, 2005, a series of 11 calls were placed from the jail by inmate David Mitchell to a Somerset telephone number registered to the residence of Douglas Weigle and Pamela Massey.
Corbett said the charges state that intercepted calls from inmate Mitchell to Weigle and Massey provided information about a scheme to use a jail employee to smuggle contraband into the jail.A review of jail records indicated that Douglas Weigle had previously been incarcerated at the Somerset County Jail at the same time as David Mitchell.
According to the criminal charges, on May 30, 2005, officials conducting surveillance on the jail parking lot observed a woman, later identified as Pamela Massey, placing suspected contraband into Lensbouer’s personal vehicle.
Corbett said Lensbouer was confronted by prison officials after he allegedly retrieved the suspected contraband from his car and returned to the prison.At that time, Lensbouer allegedly surrendered six small packets of suspected heroin along with tobacco rolling papers and cash.
Weigle and Massey are each charged with one count of providing controlled substance contraband to confined persons, a second-degree felony with a mandatory minimum of at least two years in prison.The contraband charge has a maximum punishment of 10 years in prison and a $25,000 fine.
Additionally, Weigle and Massey are each charged with criminal conspiracy, a second-degree felony punishable by up to 10 years in prison and a $25,000 fine; possession with intent to deliver a controlled substance, a third-degree felony punishable by up to seven years in prison and a $15,000 fine; and possession of a controlled substance, a third-degree misdemeanor punishable by up to one year in prison and a $2,500 fine.
Weigle and Massey were preliminarily arraigned today before Somerset Magisterial District Judge Arthur Cook and lodged in the Somerset County Jail in lieu of $50,000 cash bail each.
A preliminary hearing is scheduled for Aug. 10.