FBI: GUARD DEALT TO SMUGGLE DRUGS

A correctional officer arrested last weekend for allegedly smuggling
marijuana into United States Penitentiary, Lompoc didn't get caught with
his hand in the cookie jar. It was a box of Cheez-It crackers, according to
court documents filed by the U.S. Attorney's Office in Los Angeles.

John Scott Brooks, 28, of Lompoc, was arrested during a Saturday sting
outside a Santa Maria store after he allegedly accepted two pounds of
marijuana packaged in two Cheez-It boxes to be given to inmates.

They were the same size boxes sold in the prison commissary and were,
according to the FBI, to be delivered to inmates by being dropped in a
garbage can.

The inmates were then supposed to pick up the boxes when they emptied the
trash.

Brooks appeared Wednesday before Federal Magistrate Robert N. Block in Los
Angeles, who set bond at $25,000. Brooks is believed to be in custody
although the location is not known. He has been charged with providing
contraband in prison and bribery of a public official.

Brooks faces a maximum penalty of 20 years in prison if convicted. A
preliminary hearing has been for Jan. 21 and arraignment for Jan. 24.

According to the court papers, Brooks agreed to deliver the marijuana for
$2,000.

Brooks' arrest came after a four-month investigation and a sting. Santa
Maria FBI officials received information from a prison investigator who
reported he had received information on Brooks from an inmate.

The court papers show the investigation unfolding through inmate reports
and confidential informants. According to the FBI affidavit, inmates
accused Brooks of smuggling drugs in on another occasion - for $500 - as
well as smuggling in pornographic movies and baseball caps.

One unnamed inmate cooperated with investigators in exchanged for leniency
on a parole violation or a transfer to a penitentiary closer to where his
family lived.

The investigation went further with a confidential witness who was to set
up a deal.

With the assistance of members of the Santa Barbara Regional Enforcement
team, FBI agents began surveillance on his comings and goings from his
North V Street home and observed him performed driving moves that led
investigators to believe he knew he was being watched.

But court documents say Brooks backed out of the sting, set in mid
December, because of "cold feet."

According to the FBI, Brooks approached an inmate in early January and set
up a deal with a price tag of $2,000.

Investigators set up a sting in Santa Maria where they say Brooks accepted
the marijuana and the money. He was arrested there.

It is not clear what action will be taken with regards to the informants.
Assistant U.S. Attorney Mary Andrues, the attorney prosecuting this case,
could not be reached for comment by press time.