Corrections officer pleads guilty to smuggling pot, tobacco into prison

A corrections officer at the Coleman Federal Correctional Complex pleaded guilty to smuggling tobacco and marijuana into the prison, a U.S. attorney’s spokesman said. Jason Epstein, 29, of Orlando, had prisoners ask people outside Coleman to wire him money under pseudonyms, said William Daniels, a spokesman for U.S. Attorney A. Lee Bentley, III.

Court records show the smuggling began in April of 2012, and lasted until inmates told agents about it in 2014. Epstein was arrested in June and charged with receiving a bribe. His sentencing has not yet been scheduled, but he faces up to 15 years in prison, Daniels said in a statement.