Wyatt Detention Center Correctional Officer Admits to Attempting to Smuggle Contraband into the Facility

PROVIDENCE, RI – A Donald W. Wyatt Detention Facility correctional officer has pleaded guilty in federal court to a charge of attempting to provide contraband in prison, announced United States Attorney Zachary A. Cunha.

Kristopher White, 26, admitted to a federal judge that in December 2021, while on duty at the Wyatt facility, he attempted to deliver papers soaked with MDMB-4en-PINACA, a Schedule 1 controlled substance.

According to information presented to the court, an inmate’s text messages and telephone calls were monitored by a Wyatt Detention Center staff member that revealed that the inmate was working with individuals outside the Wyatt to bring controlled substances into the facility. White was approached by the detainee and ultimately agreed to participate and smuggle contraband into the facility. He met with an associate of White’s to obtain the drug soaked papers.

On December 2, 2021, while on duty at Wyatt, White left the facility and went to his vehicle in the facility parking lot, removed the MDMB-4en-PINACA-soaked papers from his vehicle, and returned to the facility to deliver them to the detainee. White was intercepted and escorted to the Wyatt Professional Standards Unit.

White is scheduled to be sentenced on August 15, 2024. The defendant’s sentence will be determined by a federal district judge after consideration of the U.S. Sentencing Guidelines and other statutory factors.

The case is being prosecuted by Assistant United States Attorney Julie M. White.

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