A public defender with a Queens nonprofit mired in controversy was arrested for smuggling 130 sheets of suspected THC-soaked paper right into a jail on Rikers Island, officers mentioned Friday.
Bernardo Caceres, a lawyer with Queens Defenders, was assembly his consumer, housebreaking defendant Luis DeJesus, on the Otis Bantum Correctional Middle about 3 p.m. Wednesday when investigators recovered discolored papers in a yellow legal-sized envelope, in accordance with accounts supplied by the Correction Officers Benevolent Affiliation and the Correction Division.
Officers have beforehand mentioned in public testimony that discolored pages are sometimes a clue of the presence of narcotics. A variety of liquified medicine together with fentanyl have been present in related searches. Sometimes, the papers are torn into small items and smoked or resold for smoking inside the jails.
In the meantime again on the safety gate, by which Caceres needed to go to satisfy his consumer, a drug-sniffing canine named Brimma signaled successful on a bundle that had additionally been within the possession of the lawyer, the Correction Division mentioned.
Caceres and a second lawyer who occurred to be going by safety on the identical time had been detained and the Correction Intelligence Part was known as in to do additional testing.
That take a look at registered optimistic for THC, the lively ingredient in marijuana, the union mentioned. Caceres was charged with “introducing contraband into a correction facility,” DOC officers mentioned. The opposite legal professional was let go as a result of the officers concluded he was unaware of the contents of the envelope.
Caceres, who seemed to be smiling when his photograph was taken through the arrest, was issued a desk look ticket and has but to be arraigned. Additional investigation and testing of the proof is important to verify the presence of the contraband substance, a regulation enforcement official mentioned Friday.
COBA President Benny Boscio seized on the arrest for example of why looking out and scanning of detainee mail into digital kind must be authorised within the jails.
“The fact that this attorney would brazenly attempt to smuggle in a large quantity of THC into one of our biggest jails is further proof of why paper documents brought by visitors should be scanned and downloaded electronically onto tablets,” mentioned COBA President Benny Boscio.
“This also includes moving toward paperless mail which COBA has been calling on the Board of Correction to implement for many years. Our calls have fallen on deaf ears.”
The union relished the arrest, captioning one photograph, “Correction Intelligence Bureau Officer Vasquez escorting drug peddling attorney Bernardo Caceres out of OBCC.”
Correction Commissioner Lynelle Maginley-Liddie has been urgent for approval to open non-legal mail and search it exterior of the presence of detainees, however the Board of Correction rejected the measure earlier this 12 months.
Maginley-Liddie’s predecessor Correction Commissioner Louis Molina beforehand tried to acquire board approval for digital scanning, that means folks in jail wouldn’t get precise paper copies of the mail, however the board refused to convey the measure to a vote.
“We applaud the members of our K9 Unit who were able to prevent this contraband from coming into the jails. Our staff work day-and-night to keep our facilities and the people in our care safe,” mentioned DOC spokeswoman Annais Morales. “Anyone who is caught bringing contraband into our jails will face serious consequences.”
Caceres couldn’t be reached for remark. Brian Schatz, a spokesman for Queens Defenders, declined to touch upon the arrest.
He declined to say whether or not Caceres had been suspended pending the result of the investigation.
Caceres’ arrest got here the identical day that founder and former government director of Queens Defenders, Lori Zeno, and her boyfriend and youth program director Rashad Ruhani, had been indicted in Brooklyn federal court docket for stealing roughly $60,000 from the nonprofit.
Zeno and Ruhani, who beforehand served 26 years in jail for theft, billed a spread of private luxuries, together with the hire for a penthouse condominium in Queens, a visit to Bali, and a $2,600 meal at a steakhouse to the group’s bank cards. In addition they submitted paperwork claiming the spending was enterprise associated, the indictment alleges.
A Brooklyn Defenders spokesman additionally declined touch upon Caceres’ arrest.
Initially Revealed: June 13, 2025 at 2:16 PM EDT
