Police: Men Planned To Smuggle Phones, Knives To Inmates
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NORTH BEAVER TOWNSHIP (KDKA) -- Police say two men were arrested in Lawrence County on conspiracy charges for planning to smuggle contraband into a correctional facility.
Twenty-five-year-old Ricardo Ismanuel Matos, of Rochester, N.Y., and another unidentified 25-year-old man from Rochester are facing drug charges and conspiracy charges.
State police say troopers were sent to SR 108 between Nora Drive and Stateline Road in North Beaver Township around 7:15 a.m. Saturday for a report of a one-vehicle crash.
While troopers were at the scene, they noticed "indicators of criminal activity," and upon further investigation, they found bundles containing 34 new cell phones, chargers, portable power packs, knives and loose tobacco.
According to state police, the bundles were vacuum sealed and wrapped in material that would camouflage the bundles with snow.
Troopers also found a winter camouflage outfit and suspected synthetic marijuana in the vehicle.
State police say they determined Matos and the unidentified man were traveling from Rochester to a correctional facility with the intention to go into a wooded area and throw the bundles of contraband over a fence into the prison yard, where inmates would be waiting to retrieve the packages.
The investigation is ongoing.
