Corrections Officer Accused of Bringing Contraband into Jail

HUNTINGTON, W.Va. (AP) – A West Virginia corrections spokesman says a Western Regional Jail officer has been fired after she allegedly was seen entering a cell where drug contraband was later found.

Twenty-eight-year-old Brittney Branham of Louisa, Kentucky, was being held Thursday in the South Central Regional Jail on $25,000 bond.

A criminal complaint by State Police in Cabell County Magistrate Court charges Branham with bringing contraband into a correctional facility. It says among the items found inside the cell were cigarettes, loose tobacco and rolling papers, a crack pipe and syringes.

Media outlets report the items were intended for an inmate. The jail cell was outside of Branham’s assigned area.

Department of Military Affairs and Public Safety spokesman Lawrence Messina says Branham is no longer a jail employee.

Copyright 2017 The Associated Press.