SHEBOYGAN, WI (WHBL) - Back in September of last year, the Kettle Moraine Correctional Institute in western Sheboygan County was dealing with an issue of drugs and other contraband being smuggled into the prison. They asked the Sheboygan County Sheriff’s Department to investigate one particular incident after a McDonald’s cup inside a trash can outside the institute’s training center contained marijuana and synthetic marijuana.
Thus begins the criminal complaint for 29-year-old Raymundo Gallegos. Sheboygan County prosecutors charged him last Friday with felonies for delivering illegal articles to inmates and attempted possession of THC. The complaint details how prosecutors connected Gallegos as the alleged leader in trying to get the illegal drugs into the prison.
In beginning their investigation, a sheriff’s deputy conducted a search of the money accounts for all inmates. During this investigation, an “odd” transaction was identified - a transfer of 350-dollars to another inmate from a female who was connected to Gallegos as a past visitor of his at the prison.
It was this inmate who was found with the illegal drugs, or what he thought was illegal drugs. Prosecutors say correctional lieutenants found the illegal drugs and decided to replace it with a dummy bag. Once the inmate returned to the prison, lieutenants found him with the bag.
The deputy continued the investigation by finding phone calls made by Gallegos and the female who made the money transfer. The phone calls reportedly indicated how the drug drop-off would take place, and allegedly aided her in making sure the drugs were put in the right place for pickup September 18th.
It would be in early October when the deputy got the chance to interview Gallegos. He originally claimed he had no involvement in the case, but he changed his story when the deputy told him of the other evidence he had collected. He reportedly said he forced the female to do what she did, and that he was trying to buy the drugs from the inmate who was found with the dummy bag in order to get high.
The deputy followed up this interview with another one, this time with the inmate who was found with the dummy bag of drugs. That inmate allegedly said since he had access to go outside the gates while on a job inside the prison, he was approached by several gang members to try to get him to get drugs into the prison after they would be planted by others. He said he would not do this since he did not want to get affiliated with a gang.
He then claims he changed his mind after several gang members started to put pressure on him and after one of his friends in the prison were injured in a fight because he would not agree to get the drugs. While he said he did try to get out of the matter, he was told that the money transfer for the drugs was made and he needed to go through. The inmate later says he was glad the drugs were later found by correction employees as he wanted to get out of the whole matter.
Gallegos now faces up to seven years in jail time if found guilty of both charges he faces.