PRISONERS MOVED DURING DRUG PROBE

RALEIGH -- The Wake County Sheriff's Office moved 12 prisoners out of the
Wake County jail Friday on suspicion the men were having drugs smuggled
into the jail.

The 12 men, who are awaiting trial on a variety of unconnected charges,
were routed to three separate prison facilities while the sheriff's office
continued an investigation of what it called "suspected drug activity."

"I'm not sure how it was coming in, ... but from my understanding, it had
to come from the outside," said Sheila Fort-Ray, director of the Wake
County sheriff's detention services.

Some of the drugs may have been smuggled into the jail by visitors who came
to see the men during the jail's visiting hours, Sheriff John Baker said.

One defendant, Julio Sergio-Oropesa Bryant, 19, was taken to the Polk Youth
Institution in Butner.

The other 11 defendants moved were: Kenneth Smith Whitaker, 41; Troy Del
Craighead, 26; Lloyd Bridges Wallace, 33; Carl Mills, 30; Lamont Bethea,
22; Phillip Lee Joyner, 30; Jason Trent Goodine, 24; Bienvenid
Cabera-Ozoria, 46; Devon Lyn Gulley, 27; Baron Cortez Smith, 32; and
Clifford Hansford, 43.

Six of the men were taken to Central Prison, and five others were taken to
the Craven Correctional Institution in Vanceboro.

No drugs were recovered inside the jail Friday, but the investigation has
just begun, Fort-Ray said.