Baltimore woman Lynette Carlest, 49, pleaded guilty yesterday to a sprawling racketeering conspiracy that funneled drugs, cell phones, and tobacco into Chesapeake Detention Facility (CDF), one of Maryland’s most tightly monitored federal pretrial jails. Carlest admitted to orchestrating bribe payments and delivering contraband to corrupt correctional officers in exchange for smuggling it to an incarcerated associate.
Between 2018 and March 11, 2019, Carlest used a mobile money transfer app to funnel illicit payments to Darren Parker, a 45-year-old correctional officer at CDF. She sent at least four bribes of $800 or more to ensure Parker smuggled narcotics and electronics into the facility. On March 10, 2019, Carlest personally handed over a cell phone, charger, suboxone, and tobacco to Parker during a clandestine meeting outside the jail.
The operation collapsed the next day when law enforcement intercepted Parker in the CDF parking lot with the contraband in his possession. Later that evening, Carlest received a call from the detainee inside CDF—using a smuggled phone—warning her that Parker had been caught. The call, intercepted as part of an ongoing investigation, sealed the conspiracy’s fate.
Carlest now faces up to 20 years in federal prison followed by three years of supervised release. U.S. District Judge George L. Russell has set sentencing for February 9, 2022, at 11 a.m. Her guilty plea exposes the rot festering within the jail’s security protocols and raises alarms about how deeply organized crime has infiltrated correctional facilities.
Parker, along with fellow correctional officer Talaia Youngblood, 35, of Randallstown, Maryland, previously pleaded guilty on October 18 and October 13, 2021, respectively. Both admitted to accepting bribes in exchange for smuggling contraband. Jasmine Coleman, 29, of Baltimore, also pleaded guilty on October 25, 2021, for her role in a parallel scheme involving another inmate.
U.S. Attorney Erek L. Barron praised the joint investigation by the FBI and the Maryland Department of Public Safety and Correctional Services (DPSCS), which initiated the probe. Assistant U.S. Attorneys Peter J. Martinez and Harry M. Gruber are prosecuting the case. The feds are sending a message: betrayal of public trust behind prison walls won’t go unpunished.
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Key Facts
- State: Maryland
- Agency: DOJ USAO
- Category: Organized Crime
- Source: Official Source ↗
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