Jason Ponder Pleads Guilty to Smuggling Spice into FCI-Berlin

Jason Ponder, 36, a former inmate at Federal Correctional Institution Berlin in New Hampshire, pleaded guilty today to smuggling a dangerous synthetic cannabinoid into the federal prison. Ponder admitted to possessing AB-Fubinaca—a potent, lab-made drug often sold as “spice” or “K2″—after it was passed to him during a monitored visitation.

The crime unfolded on March 12, 2016, inside the prison’s Visitation Room, where Ponder met with his girlfriend and a minor child. Surveillance cameras captured the girlfriend slipping Ponder three small white packages. Correctional officers terminated the visit immediately. The woman surrendered two of the packages on the spot; all tested positive for AB-Fubinaca, a Schedule I controlled substance with hallucinogenic and potentially life-threatening effects.

AB-Fubinaca is part of a brutal class of designer drugs sprayed onto plant material and sold as incense—labeled “not for human consumption” to skirt laws. Users smoke it to mimic the high of marijuana, but the effects are far more volatile. Federal health reports link synthetic cannabinoids to seizures, psychosis, and cardiac emergencies, with dozens of users flooding emergency rooms nationwide.

Ponder was swiftly transferred out of FCI-Berlin following the incident. He now faces an additional eight-month sentence, to be served consecutively after he completes his current federal term. Sentencing is scheduled for May 8, 2017, at 2:00 p.m. in Concord, New Hampshire.

The Federal Bureau of Prisons led the investigation, with prosecutors from the U.S. Attorney’s Office building the case from video evidence and forensic lab results. Assistant U.S. Attorney Don Feith handled the prosecution, underscoring the feds’ zero-tolerance stance on contraband in correctional facilities.

U.S. Attorney Emily Gray Rice said the guilty plea sends a clear message: “Prison walls won’t shield criminals from accountability.” Ponder’s attempt to import a dangerous high into a federal facility has now earned him more time behind those very walls.

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