GREENHEAD — While state law enforcement proceeds with investigations into brutality on inmates at a Washington County state prison, a review of court documents shows two corrections officers at the facility have been arrested in the past two years on other charges.
Alicia Candice Michelle Bell, 23, was charged with accepting a payment to sneak in contraband and Nicole Lian Grun, 26, was charged with introducing contraband into the Northwest Florida Reception Center. Both were arrested and fired in December.
Grun was arrested Dec. 20 after officers allegedly caught her in possession of 186 grams of “K-2 Spice,” a synthetic marijuana.
According to her arrest affidavit, Grun arrived for duty, passed a routine staff search before she was instructed to report to the Visiting Park for a more thorough search — along with three other female officers. Investigators found a sealed package of sandwiches in Grun’s lunch bag. She hesitated before admitting to having the concealed synthetic marijuana, officers reported. Investigators found the missing sandwiches during a search of Grun’s car.
Grun then told investigators she brought the contraband at the behest of an inmate. She said she received Western Union money transfers for $100 and another for $200 from the inmate’s relatives. Grun revised her story after investigators found $400 in her car’s glove box, according to investigators.
The arrest of Bell stemmed from an allegation by an inmate she planned to introduce tobacco, synthetic marijuana, MDMA, crack cocaine and cellphones into the prison. Western Union records revealed Bell received $300 from an inmate’s relative, which she provided her ID to acquire, according to investigators.
Bell admitted she conspired with multiple inmates to introduce the contraband but only accepted the $300 for cigarettes that she never delivered.
“I kind of screwed myself,” Bell told authorities. “I shouldn’t have took the money. Me taking the money and not bringing something in got me into this mess.”
Both officers were fired after their arrests. Bell was sentenced to five years of probation this month for accepting bribery. Grun was sentenced to 15 years of probation in August for possessing a controlled substance, introducing contraband to a state correctional facility and accepting bribery, according to court records.
Last week, six officers were arrested and fired in connection with the beating of an inmate at the prison.