Former state correctional officer gets five years for smuggling caper

GOLDSBORO, N.C. (WITN) - A former state correctional officer is headed to federal prison for five years after plans to smuggle more drugs into a state prison were foiled.

A federal judge in Wilmington on Tuesday sentenced Dawan McKinzie after a guilty plea to conspiring to distribute methamphetamine and possession of methamphetamine with intent to distribute.

McKinzie was a correctional officer at Neuse Correctional Institution in Goldsboro.

Federal prosecutors say the man began smuggling contraband into the prison between July and October of 2023, hiding it on himself to get it into the prison.

On November 14, 2023, the FBI and DEA received information that McKinzie was smuggling drugs into the prison. When confronted, the feds say the man told authorities he recently had received a package from an inmate’s wife. It contained meth, psilocybin mushrooms, cocaine, tobacco, suboxone, a cellphone, and nude photos that McKinzie planned to smuggle into the prison.

In addition to the five year sentence, McKinzie will serve four years of supervised release after his time in prison.