By DON FLETCHER
News Staff Writer
Alabama Department of Corrections (ADOC) officials arrested a former G.K. Fountain Correctional Facility (Fountain) security guard and three Mobile-area residents last week in separate schemes to smuggle contraband into the facility.
The first arrest came July 4 when Shaquasia La’Sha Craig, 33, of Evergreen, at the time a security guard at Fountain, was arrested by ADOC Law Enforcement Services Division (LESD) officers and charged with one count of third-degree promoting prison contraband, a Class B misdemeanor.
Craig, who is accused of trying to bring 50 Black and Mild cigars and two bottles of alcohol-laced Gatorade into the state prison, was also fired from her state job. She was released on bond several hours after her arrest.
A day later, on July 5, LESD agents arrested the Mobile trio for attempting to smuggle contraband, apparently marijuana, into Fountain after a high-speed chase ended when the driver of the vehicle in which the three were riding lost control and crashed at Interstate 65’s Chickasaw exit (Exit 10).
Reports show the chase started when an LESD officer initiated his vehicle’s lights and sirens on a “suspicious vehicle,” prompting one of the suspects who was outside the vehicle to get back into the car, which then headed southward at a high rate of speed. The officer pursued the fleeing vehicle along Interstate 65 until it left the roadway.
Justin Isaiah Duckworth, 31, reportedly of Prichard, who had reportedly attempted to throw contraband over the Fountain fence, was apprehended after a short foot chase.
Other LESD officers soon arrived, and the driver of the vehicle, 26-year-old Jajuan Antonio Williams, and the rear passenger, 24-year-old Amber Lyn Shields, both of Mobile, were taken into custody at the scene. All three were booked into the Escambia County Detention Center, where each remained Monday, July 8.
According to jail records, Duckworth is charged with one count each of first-degree promoting prison contraband, attempting to commit a controlled substance crime, first-degree possession of marijuana, possession of a firearm by a restricted person, and second-degree receiving stolen property. A charge of possession of a cell phone by an inmate was later added.
Williams is charged with one count each of first-degree promoting prison contraband, attempting to commit a controlled substance crime, felony attempting to elude, first-degree criminal mischief, first-degree possession of marijuana and “prohibited activities.” He was also later charged with possession of a cell phone by an inmate.
Shields is charged with one count each of first-degree promoting prison contraband, attempting to commit a controlled substance crime and first-degree possession of marijuana. She was also charged with possession of a cell phone by an inmate.
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