By KLAB

United States Attorney David C. Joseph announced that a former corrections officer at the Federal Correctional Complex in Pollock was sentenced Tuesday to 24 months in prison and two years of supervised release for accepting bribes to smuggle contraband to prisoners.

Byron A. Wyatt, 39, of Marksville, Louisiana, was sentenced by U.S. District Judge Dee D. Drell. He was previously found guilty of the offense on April 5, 2018, after a three-day trial.

Wyatt worked as a corrections officer at the Federal Correctional Complex in Pollock where he accepted thousands of dollars in bribes from a prisoner in 2014, in exchange for smuggling contraband into the prison. Wyatt smuggled items into the prison such as tobacco, cell phones, pills and marijuana. The defendant would make contact with the inmate to set up the transfer. Individuals outside of the prison would then pay the defendant and supply him with the contraband items to deliver.

The U.S. Department of Justice Office of Inspector General conducted the investigation. Assistant U.S. Attorneys Earl M. Campbell and Tiffany E. Fields prosecuted the case.