LEXINGTON – A Magoffin County native pleaded guilty in federal court last week for reportedly accepting money in exchange for smuggling controlled substances and tobacco into a federal correctional facility.
On August 29, Assistant United States Attorney Emily K. Greenfield filed a notice of intent to file information and a motion for arraignment in Lexington federal court, giving notice that they would be filing a criminal information charging A. Jade Howard, formerly of Magoffin County, with a felony violation.
On October 6, the U.S. Attorney’s Office filed an information in the case, charging Howard, a public official, of directly and indirectly corruptly receiving, accepting and agreeing to receive and accept something of value personally, in return for being induced to do an act and omit to do an act in violation of her official duty; that is, accepting money in exchange for smuggling controlled substances and tobacco into the Federal Medical Center Lexington, a federal correctional facility, and providing that contraband to inmates at the facility, with the acts allegedly occurring from on or about December 2023 through October 16, 2024.
Including in the information filing were forfeiture allegations, Howard was required to turn over any and all property which derived from the proceeds traceable to the violation.
During the hearing held on October 6, Howard appeared with council for a waiver of indictment, filing of information and arraignment. The waiver of indictment was executed and information filed, as well as given to Howard for review.
Howard entered a guilty plea, agreeing with the facts contained in the forfeiture allegation. A plea agreement was filed into the record at the same time.
According to the plea agreement, from 2021 and continuing through October 16, 2024, Howard was employed as a correctional officer, and then as a materials handler, by the United States Bureau of Prisons at the Federal Medical Center Lexington, a federal correctional facility.
As a materials handler, Howard had correctional and custodial authority over inmates, carried a weapon and had arresting authority, according to the facts admitted in the plea agreement. In the spring of 2023, Howard was reportedly approached by an inmate to smuggle tobacco cigarettes into the correctional facility. Within training and experience at the correctional facility, Howard would know inmates having tobacco or other illicit substances inside of the facility was a violation of their policy, and would also know that it would be an employee’s duty to report any inmate in possession of such contraband.
The plea agreement outlines how Howard agreed to smuggle the contraband tobacco into the facility, and was paid through accounts on mobile banking applications starting in December 2023.
In August 2024, Howard was approached by the same inmate and asked to also smuggle synthetic marijuana into the facility in exchange for money. Howard reportedly agreed and smuggled in 50 sheets of paper laced with what she believed to be synthetic marijuana. On September 25, 2024, other staff at the facility learned of Howard’s conduct and found and confiscated the remaining sheets of paper that had been brought to the inmate inside of the federal medical center, according to the plea agreement.
At the time the papers were confiscated, prison staff reportedly were concerned that the substance on the paper was fentanyl based on how the inmates who ingested it were feeling. Lab tests revealed that it had been laced with 5F-ADB, which is a synthetic cannabinoid categorized as a Schedule I controlled substance non-narcotic.
Howard admitted in the plea agreement to smuggling the 5F-ADB and tobacco into the Federal Medical Center Lexington from December 2023 through October 16, 2024, in exchange for $18,602, which was received through mobile banking applications.
The statutory punishment for the charge is imprisonment for not more than 15 years, a fine of not more than $250,000 or not more than three times the monetary equivalent of the thing of value, whichever is greater, and not more than three years supervised release. Howard may also be disqualified from holding any office of honor, trust, or profit under the United States.
Howard consented in the plea agreement to the imposition of a forfeiture money judgment in the amount of $18,602, representing the amount of proceeds obtained as a result of the offense.
Howard is to remain on bond, and on conditions of release, with a sentencing hearing slated for January 26, 2026, in Lexington federal court.
Editor’s Note: The indictment or charge of a person by a grand jury or otherwise is an accusation only and that person is presumed innocent until and unless proven guilty.
