Correctional Officer Arrested

GRANTS, N.M. – A sex scandal has hit the Western New Mexico Correctional Facility. The New Mexico State Police arrested Robert Smith, a 37-year-old man from Milan, New Mexico for having sex with a female inmate while he was a correctional officer.

In January, Smith allegedly began a relationship with an unnamed inmate at NWNMCF. After the first time they had an affair, Smith began bringing the female inmate contraband from outside the prison, including: Cigarettes, food, soda, hand sanitizer, and earrings

The second affair occurred sometime before the end of April; the New Mexico State Police has not yet released all details of this crime. The New Mexico Department of Corrections allegedly discovered evidence of Smith’s crime, and the department launched an investigation using the Security Threat Investigations Unit, also known as STIU.

Once STIU finished their investigations, the facility alerted NMSP. On May 19, two agents with the state police interviewed Smith about the alleged crime, in a press release, NMSP said Smith admitted to having sexual relations with the inmate.

Smith was arrested by NMSP agents and was taken to the Cibola County Correctional Center in Milan, N.M. Smith was charged with two counts of Criminal Sexual Penetration by an Official in a Position of Authority Over an Inmate; and one count of Bringing Contraband onto Prison Grounds, all three charges are felonies.

In a Facebook post, Smith said, “Nothing I say or do can make up for this, how can I be so stupid?” This came attached with a photo that read, “I made decisions that I’m no way proud of but I will pay for the rest of my life for actions I wish I could take back.”

In the United States Judicial System, all people are innocent until proven guilty in a court of law.