Prison guard sentenced for smuggling contraband

A 27-year-old former corrections officer was sentenced Thursday to one year in prison for taking $6,500 from an inmate in exchange for smuggling contraband into the Federal Medical Center in Rochester.

Richard Torres pleaded guilty in federal court in September to soliciting a bribe in November 2008 and smuggling cell phones, cigarettes and dietary supplements to the prisoner that agreed to pay him.

According to officials, the inmate told authorities that Torres told him he did it because he needed money.

Torres had worked at the prison in Rochester since November 2005.

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