PRISON GUARDS ARRESTED FOR ECSTACY, MARIJUANA

ATHENS - Limestone authorities arrested a prison guard Monday night after
they said he picked up marijuana hidden in a candy bar wrapper.

Authorities arrested a second guard this morning after he and his cousin
came to an Athens motel to sell ecstasy and party with girls, said Sheriff
Mike Blakely.

Blakely and Limestone Correctional Facility Warden Billy Mitchem concocted
the first setup to catch a guard that Mitchem suspected of smuggling drugs
into the prison.

"We've been watching him for one to two months," Mitchem said.

An inmate at the prison helped authorities trick the guard, Leslie Harold
Corsbie, 32, of 307 Grand St., Muscle Shoals. The inmate told Corsbie to
call the inmate's brother to arrange a location to pick up the marijuana.
Blakely said a narcotics officer pretended to be the brother and made an
arrangement to stuff a Baby Ruth wrapper with marijuana and hide it along
the roadside on East Limestone Road.

Blakely said Corsbie, who has worked at the prison a year, drove by the
location five times in 11 hours before picking up the marijuana at 11 p.m.
Monday. He told investigators he was going to sell the marijuana for $100
to an inmate. Mitchem said the marijuana was worth $300 to $400.

The sheriff said Corsbie then gave investigators a tip about a second guard
who was allegedly dealing drugs. Corsbie told the second guard, Marshall
Dewayne Brown, 26, of 1002 Walter Hill Road, Madison, to bring ecstasy to
an Athens motel so they could party with some girls.

Brown and his cousin, Thijuan Lamarcus Williams, 27, of Route 1 Box 65,
Arlington, sold 10 ecstasy pills worth $350 to an undercover female officer
at 1:45 a.m. today. Blakely and his officers were hiding in the bathroom.
He said the undercover officer yelled, "Let's get naked and party!" to
signal him that the buy was complete.

"It about scared them to death when she yelled that, and then when they saw
us, they got a surprise too," Blakely said.

Authorities charged Brown, who has worked at the prison four years, and
Williams each with distribution of a controlled substance. Bond isn't set.

Authorities charged Corsbie with first-degree illegal possession of
marijuana and second-degree promoting prison contraband. Bond isn't set. "I
feel like we've got several more (guards) involved, and we're going to bust
them too," said Mitchem. "It hurts all of us in law enforcement when you
bust a bad apple. These are a minority."

Mitchem said 80 percent of convicted felons are in prison for drug-related
offenses.

"They still have a desire to obtain drugs," he said.

Blakely said that means money can tempt guards to provide the drugs.