Ex-Prison Guard in Texas Gets 2 Years for Bribery

An ex-corrections officer in South Texas and his wife are going to prison for taking bribes and slipping tobacco and other banned items to an inmate.

Joel Gonzalez on Wednesday was sentenced to two years in federal prison. A judge in Corpus Christi sentenced the ex-guard's wife, Lisa Gonzalez, to 10 months behind bars.

The Beeville couple in August pleaded guilty to conspiracy to commit bribery. Prosecutors said the pair from late 2012 until April 2013 accepted bribes from the family of an inmate at the Federal Correctional Institution in Three Rivers.

Investigators said Lisa Gonzalez, who at the time worked for the Texas prison system, helped arrange times and places in Laredo to pick up the contraband and cash.

Prosecutors did not immediately provide additional information on the prisoner.

Copyright AP - Associated Press
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