Essex County Correctional Officer Admits Accepting Bribes to Smuggle Contraband into Prisoners at Essex County Correctional Facility

NEWARK, N.J. - A former Essex County correctional officer admitted accepting $14,000 in bribe payments to smuggle in contraband tobacco and a cell phone to inmates being detained at the Essex County Correctional Facility in Newark, U.S. Attorney Philip R. Sellinger announced today.

Efrin Wade, 36, of Jersey City, New Jersey, pleaded guilty before U.S. District Judge Katharine S. Hayden in Newark federal court on July 17, 2024, to an information charging him with one count of extortion under color of official right.

According to the documents filed in this case and statements made in court today:

In January 2023, Wade, who had served as a correctional officer at Essex County Correctional Facility (ECCF) from approximately February 2020 through March 2023, began communicating with an individual whom he believed was seeking to smuggle in contraband to inmates at ECCF for sale to other inmates. Unbeknownst to Wade, this individual was in reality an undercover FBI agent. Wade agreed to smuggle in tobacco and cell phones, both of which inmates at ECCF are forbidden to possess. On Feb. 1, 2023, Wade sent his associate, Yairisa Lizardo, to meet with the undercover agent in a parking lot in Bayonne, New Jersey. At the meeting, Lizardo accepted $10,000 in cash and a substantial quantity of tobacco for Wade to smuggle into ECCF. Over the subsequent weeks, Wade left this tobacco in concealed locations within ECCF believing it would be retrieved by inmates. However, law enforcement recovered these items after Wade relayed the concealed locations to the undercover agent.

On Feb. 8, 2023, Wade met the undercover agent in a parking lot in Jersey City where Wade took possession of a cell phone concealed within tobacco. After smuggling this contraband into ECCF, law enforcement recovered it in a concealed location where Wade had left it for inmates to retrieve. On Feb.15, 2023, Wade met with the undercover agent in the same parking lot in Jersey City where Wade accepted an additional $4,000 for his smuggling activities. Wade also explained his plans to smuggle in an additional 15 contraband cell phones, which were to be supplied to him by the undercover agent. Wade expected to be paid at least $30,000 for smuggling these cell phones into ECCF in late March. Wade expected that the cell phones would then be resold to inmates for approximately $5,000 per phone. In addition, when approached by agents during his shift at ECCF during the early morning hours of March 14, 2003, Wade was found to be in possession of multiple packs of contraband cigarettes as well as tobacco packs and cigars.

The extortion charge is punishable by a maximum potential penalty of 20 years in prison and a maximum $250,000 fine. Sentencing is scheduled for Nov. 19, 2024.

The charges and allegations contained in the criminal complaint in this matter, which was filed in March of 2023, remain pending as to codefendant Lizardo. Lizardo was charged along with Wade and the allegations in the criminal complaint are merely accusations as to her, and she is presumed innocent unless and until proven guilty.

U.S. Attorney Sellinger credited special agents with the FBI, under the direction of Special Agent in Charge James E. Dennehy in Newark, and investigators of the Internal Affairs Unit of the Essex County Department of Corrections, under the direction of Ronald Charles, with the investigation leading to the charges.

The government is represented by Assistant U.S. Attorney Mark J. McCarren of the Office's Special Prosecutions Division in Newark.