A Lincoln decide Thursday sentenced a former Nebraska Division of Correctional Companies worker to seven years in jail in connection to inappropriate relationships she had with two inmates and for smuggling in marijuana.
Michelle Dicini, 39, had labored at Lincoln Correctional Middle till a yr in the past, when a NDCS investigator interviewed her about emails that had been found between her and an inmate.
Investigator Ross Bartlett mentioned Dicini shortly admitted she had relationships with two inmates, kissing one in a closet and having intercourse with one other within the spiritual middle at LCC.
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And she or he admitted to getting cash for smuggling in marijuana thrice and a cellphone.
Dicini later pleaded no contest to a few felonies: two counts of illegal acts in jail and tried supply of marijuana.
Her legal professional, Doug Kerns, mentioned she had been regulation abiding earlier than this and knew what she was doing was fallacious.
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“When she talked to investigators, she spilled every thing. She was utterly sincere with them. She wished it over with,” he mentioned. “She knew she was violating the regulation. She knew that she was letting down the warden and her employer, as a result of she promised to not do any of the issues that she did.”
Kerns mentioned it was Dicini’s first job in corrections, she was working 16-hour shifts and grew enmeshed within the jail tradition and crossed boundaries.
“She simply made very dangerous decisions in a nasty state of affairs,” he mentioned.
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He mentioned then the inmates threatened to reveal what she was doing if she did not herald medication. However Dicini acknowledged she was ready of authority and energy over them.
“She went down that path and he or she shouldn’t have,” Kerns mentioned.
Dicini apologized to the workers at NDCS for letting them down.
“I by no means wished to interrupt the regulation. And I am not going to do it ever once more,” she mentioned.
Deputy Lancaster County Legal professional Chris Reid mentioned correctional officers participating in romantic relationships with inmates and bringing in contraband to the jail system is a serious drawback.
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“She is ready of belief, the place she is tasked with guaranteeing the protection of inmates, guaranteeing the protection of her co-workers, as a part of her job … and he or she violated that,” he mentioned.
It wasn’t till emails have been intercepted by jail workers that it was found, Reid mentioned.
Lancaster County District Decide Jodi Nelson mentioned Dicini had engaged in wholly inappropriate relationships with not one, however two inmates, and introduced medication into the jail.
Any indication that she had been in over her head and manipulated fell flat with the courtroom, she mentioned, as a result of Dicini had methods to cease it and did not.
“Ms. Dicini was the mover and shaker right here. She was the one who set in movement and stored in movement the illicit conduct and the inappropriate conduct with these inmates. After which, when apparently that wasn’t sufficient, she agreed to deliver contraband in … and generate income off of that,” the decide mentioned.
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Dicini must serve 3½ years earlier than she is launched on 9 months of post-release supervision.
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