Michigan woman accused of smuggling drugs, SIM cards into Upper Peninsula prison

(CBS DETROIT) — A 41-year-old Redford woman is accused of smuggling drugs and SIM cards into an Upper Peninsula prison. 

Michigan State Police say Frances Ramirez-Huerta tried to smuggle drugs into the Chippewa Correctional Facility in Kincheloe in Chippewa County. She was arrested after an investigation by the Michigan Department of Corrections. 

On Jan. 11, corrections officers became suspicious after witnessing a prisoner behave unusually during a visitation. 

Surveillance video allegedly showed Ramirez-Huerta, who was visiting an inmate, conceal the items in the waistband of her pants, which she discreetly gave to the prisoner. 

When prison officers searched the inmate, they found a bundle containing 140 suboxone strips and a second bundle with seven grams of marijuana flower in packaging. In addition, two SIM cards for cellphones were also found. 

Ramirez-Huerta is charged with furnishing a cellphone to a prison, furnishing contraband to a prisoner in prison, controlled substance-maintaining a drug house, controlled substance-delivery/manufacture of marijuana and controlled substance-creation/delivery of an analogue. 

She was lodged in the Chippewa County Jail and given a $1,000 bond. Ramirez-Huerta is due back in court on Jan. 27. 

Earlier this month, a Michigan corrections officer and another man were charged with attempting to smuggle more than $400,000 worth of drugs into the Kinross Correctional Facility. Troopers say Andre Taylor, 59, of Clinton Township, and Edward King, 57, of Detroit, tried to smuggle illegal drugs into the Kinross facility where Taylor was working on a temporary assignment.