2 CORRECTION OFFICERS TO SERVE TIME

BRONX, - Two former New York City Correction Officers
assigned to Rikers Island have been sentenced in Bronx Supreme Court
to 2 to 6 years for attempting to smuggle drugs into the correction
facilities on Rikers Island.

Edward J. Kuriansky, Commissioner of the Department of Investigation,
says as a result of two separate undercover investigations, Rafael
Lopez and Victor Cabrera have been sentenced.

The two defendants, who had each previously pleaded guilty to
attempted criminal sale of a controlled substance in the third degree,
a class C felony, were immediately remanded.

According to the charges filed against Lopez, on 3 occasions between
Feb. 6, 1997 and March 7, 1997 he met with a DOI undercover agent and
was paid a total of $1,100 in bribes to smuggle cocaine and other
drugs to an inmate.

Lopex, 30, of Manhattan, had been a Correction Officer since January
24, 1991. He was arrested in June 1997.

Cabrea was accused of taking a total of $200 in bribes on two
occasions in December 1997 to smuggle cocaine to an inmate. Cabrea,
35, of the Bronx, had been a Corrections Officer since July 1983. He
was arrested in August 1998 when he attempted to apply for his pension.