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Three Charged In Prison Smuggling Scheme

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A one-time corrections officer, an inmate and a woman from Tennessee have been charged with conspiring to smuggle marijuana, tobacco, cellphones and sexually explicit photographs into a federal prison in northeastern Kentucky.

A grand jury in Ashland charged the former guard, James S. Lewis, Gary Music, 32, and Cindy Gates of Newport, Tenn., with secretly getting the items into the federal prison at Ashland over a 13-month period from 2010 through early 2012.

Prosecutors say Musick would secure the items and arrange with Gates and Lewis to sneak them into the prison. Musick would then have the contraband hidden by fellow inmates for sale later.

Lewis is due in court Sept. 26. Court records did not list attorneys for Music, who is now housed at Forrest City, Ark., or Gates.