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Rochester prison guard charged with smuggling contraband

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A corrections officer with the U.S. Bureau of Prisons was indicted Tuesday in federal court for allegedly soliciting and receiving several thousand dollars in exchange for smuggling contraband into a federal correctional facility in Rochester.

Richard Torres, 26, was charged with four counts of bribery of a public official.

Investigators believe Torres solicited and received a bribe from a federal prisoner in exchange for smuggling contraband into the Federal Medical Center in Rochester.

Torres had worked as a guard at the facility since November 2005, according to a U.S. Justice Department-Office of Inspector General affidavit.

According to officials, an inmate told authorities that Torres said he needed money and insinuated that he would bring contraband into the institution for the inmate.

On two separate occasions Torres smuggled contraband, including cellular telephones, tobacco and creatine powder in exchange for cash, investigators said.

Officials said Torres allegedly received a total of $3,500 in payments: $1,000 on Nov. 17, 2008 and Dec. 15, 2008, and another $1,500 on June 5, 2009,.

If convicted, Torres faces a maximum penalty of 15 years in prison on each count.