By Alicia Cruz
Staff Writer
The New Jersey Newsroom
Joseph Mastriani, of Nutley, the corrections officer accused of leading a smuggling ring that delivered contraband items to inmates at the Essex County Jail pleaded not guilty to conspiracy and official misconduct charges during his court appearance Friday,WABC reported.
Mastriani, a nine-year veteran of the New Jersey Department of Corrections, was among 13 people arrested last week in connection with the ring that operated like a call center for contraband from cell phones to narcotics.
CLICK HERE TO SEE PHOTOS OF THOSE ARRESTED
Two inmates allegedly took orders from other prisoners and passed the requests along to Mastriani and another corrections officer, who would then pass the orders to others, including a teacher, a probation officer and girlfriends of some of the inmates, who would then purchase and deliver the items.
Officilas say Mastriani, 30, is being held at an unidentified facility outside of the county for safety reasons. If he posts his $200,000 bail, he will have to prove that the funds came from a legitimate source, WABC reported. Mastriani remained jailed in lieu of that bond.
Operation Jail Breach, a five-month long investigation, also netted the arrests of William Rupp, of Bloomfield, the second correction officer along with Jill Watral, of Nutley, a Cedar Grove Special Education teacher and Union County probation officer John C. Smith, 33 and seven other individuals, mycentraljersey.com reported.
Residents on Plymouth Road, where Watral lives, told The Star-Ledger that they noticed strangers arriving to the Watral house through the day to hand over packages.
Wilbert Best, a Northern State inmate who was arrested in June in conjunction with Operation Red Storm along with forty other people, including Northern State Prison corrections officer, Gale Bishop, was also arrested last week for his part in the jailhouse scheme.
Operation Red Storm was an 18-month investigation led by the state Division of Criminal Justice, with assistance of the Boonton and Newark police, The New Jersey State Department of Corrections and the State Police, into a drug distribution network linked to the Bloods street gang that operated in two Newark neighborhoods, NJNR reported.
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