Five individuals have pleaded guilty to participating in a scheme to smuggle contraband into the Central Detention Facility, also known as the D.C. Jail, while inmates awaited trial for serious offenses. The U.S. Attorney for the District of Columbia, Jeanine Ferris Pirro, announced that LaTara Brown of Capitol Heights, Maryland; Kiya Holland of Oxon Hill, Maryland; Darius Robertson and Marcel Vines of Washington, D.C.; and Stefon Freshley of Washington, D.C., entered guilty pleas in District Court.
The group had been indicted on November 14, 2024 for providing or possessing contraband in a prison and conspiracy related to those activities. Another alleged co-conspirator, Rashaad Roper of Gaithersburg, Maryland, is scheduled to stand trial.
According to court documents and admissions made during their plea hearings, Holland and Brown were responsible for packaging items including a knife, cell phones, fentanyl and other controlled substances into Tupperware containers. These packages were brought into the jail facility where Robertson, Vines or Freshley—who were inmates at the time—received them from Officer Roper or another corrections officer after they had been smuggled inside.
Sentencing dates are set as follows: August 13, 2025 for Vines; September 5 for Holland; September 16 for Robertson; September 25 for Freshley; and October 21 for Brown. Each defendant could face up to five years in prison under federal law governing conspiracy to provide or possess contraband in a correctional institution. Judge Timothy J. Kelly will preside over sentencing.
Special Agent in Charge Reid Davis from the FBI’s Washington Field Office Criminal Division and Chief Investigator Kevin L. Hammond from the D.C. Department of Corrections Office of Investigative Services joined U.S. Attorney Pirro in announcing these developments.
The case was investigated by both the FBI’s Washington Field Office and the D.C. Department of Corrections Office of Investigative Services with help from the Department of Justice Office of Inspector General. Assistant U.S. Attorneys Joshua Gold and Sarah Santiago are prosecuting.
