Correctional Officer Admits Role in Scheme to Smuggle Contraband into Wyatt Detention Center

PROVIDENCE, RI – A now former Donald W. Wyatt Detention Facility correctional officer admitted to a federal judge today that he smuggled approximately 200 Suboxone strips into the detention center that were seized from a detainee’s cell, announced United States Attorney Zachary A. Cunha.

Appearing in U.S. District Court, Kaii Almeida-Falcones, 30, of Smithfield, pleaded guilty to a charge of providing contraband to an inmate. He is scheduled to be sentenced on September 12, 2024. The defendant’s sentence will be determined by a federal district judge after consideration of the U.S. Sentencing Guidelines and other statutory factors.

According to charging documents and information presented to the court, in mid-February 2021, two inmates housed at the Wyatt Detention Center communicated with a former detainee and another person outside of the facility to arrange to provide Suboxone strips to Almeida-Falcones, who then smuggled the Suboxone inside the facility.

On February 15, 2021, a strip search of detainee Emmanuel Nolasco, 37, of Providence, and his cell, revealed a package containing Suboxone strips.  The strips were sent to a lab that determined the presence of 201 strips, 5 of which were partial strips, all containing Buprenorphine, which is an ingredient in Suboxone.

The case is being prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorney Ly T. Chin.

The matter was investigated by the FBI, the United States Marshals Service, the U.S. Department of Justice, Office of Inspector General, and the Professional Standards Unit at the Wyatt Detention Center.

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