Ten people, including a man currently in Indiana County Jail, are being indicted in connection with racketeering at the Cambria County Jail.
A federal grand jury accused the ten in an indictment returned July 22nd and unsealed yesterday in connection with incidents from July to December of 2023. The document says two individuals employed as a corrections officer and a staff nurse received bribes from several inmates in exchange for prohibited items like drugs, cell phones, security tools and cigarettes. The two, Lakesha Stith and Asiah Young-Atwell, both of Johnstown, would hide the items in lunch bags and other containers to get past the screening system and into areas of the prison where the items could be distributed. The two were also accused of having inappropriate relations with some of the prisoners. The cell phones would be used to coordinate smuggling and trafficking operations outside the prison. Sometimes, those involved inside the county lockup would sell the items at significantly higher costs.
One of the others involved in the smuggling ring was Mikal Davis, who was recently sentenced in a separate drug ring case with distributing heroin, crack, cocaine, fentanyl and meth. The ten individuals could face up to 20 years in federal prison, a fine of up to $250,000 or both.
Along with Davis, Stith and Young-Atwell, the others named in the indictment include:
- Ashley Aguilar, 26, of Phoenix, Ariz.
- James Johnson-Ross, 26, of Altoona, Pa.
- Marcos Monarrez Jr., 26, incarcerated at FDC Philadelphia
- Jessica Niebauer, 34, of Altoona, Pa
- Monique Valencia, 29, of Phoenix, Ariz.
- Blake Young, 36, incarcerated at SCI Laurel Highlands
- Carlos Zamora, 29, incarcerated at Northeast Ohio Correctional Center
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