Essex County Correctional Officer Took Bribes To Smuggle Contraband To Inmates: Feds

In January 2023, Efrin Wade, who worked at the jail for three years, began communicating with an individual whom he believed was seeking to smuggle in contraband to sell to other inmates, U.S. Attorney Philip Sellinger said.

The individual was actually an undercover FBI agent, Sellinger said. Wade agreed to smuggle in tobacco and cell phones, prohibited for inmates at the facility, Sellinger said. Wade sent an associate to meet with the undercover agent in a parking lot in Bayonne, and they accepted $10,000 in cash and tobacco for him to smuggle into the jail, Sellinger said.

Over the subsequent weeks, Wade left the tobacco in concealed locations within the jail believing it would be retrieved by inmates, Sellinger said. However, law enforcement recovered these items after Wade relayed the concealed locations to the undercover agent, Sellinger said.

Wade met multiple times with an undercover agent, with plans to smuggle in 15 contraband cell phones, and be paid at least $30,000, before being arrested, Sellinger said.. He pleaded guilty to one count of extortion by an official, Sellinger said.

He faces up to 20 years in prison when he is sentenced in November, Sellinger said. Wade's associate, Yairisa Lazardo has charges pending against her, Sellinger said.

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