Ex-Waukesha County Sheriff's lieutenant pleads guilty to smuggling drugs into jail

A former Waukesha County Sheriff's lieutenant who faces charges in the September 2023 death of a jail inmate now admits she smuggled drugs and a cellphone into the facility for another inmate.

Johanna Grace, 34, pleaded guilty in federal court Friday to providing marijuana and a cellular telephone to an inmate at the Waukesha County Jail.

More: Waupun prison deaths led to criminal charges. Will families win civil rights lawsuits?

Federal court documents show Grace committed the offenses while was working as a lieutenant with the Waukesha County Sheriff’s Office.

Prosecutors say she coordinated with associates outside the jail to bring contraband inside the facility. They also allege Grace shared internal law enforcement reports with those same associates when she realized her crime would be discovered, Gregory J. Haanstad, the U.S. Attorney for Wisconsin's Eastern District, said in a statement.

Grace faces up to five years’ imprisonment when she is sentenced Oct. 9 in Milwaukee before U.S. District Court Judge J.P. Stadtmueller.

More: Lincoln Hills staffer dies after assault by 16-year-old boy at youth prison

Grace also is facing separate charges for allegedly abusing a resident of a penal facility in the death last year of Waukesha County Jail inmate Randy Glenn Jr .

Investigators said Glenn was arrested during a Jan. 16, 2023, traffic stop for a probation violation that was connected to prior drug convictions. Glenn was found dead in his jail cell the next morning.

More: Former Milwaukee police officer pleads guilty to falsifying records in jail inmate death case

An autopsy report found five small bags containing roughly 10 grams of cocaine in Glenn's stomach.

Grace and Deborah Link, a jail nurse, were charged. Each has a motion hearing scheduled for July 29.

This article originally appeared on Milwaukee Journal Sentinel: Ex-Waukesha County Sheriff's lieutenant pleads guilty to smuggling drugs into jail