A jail guard has been charged with accepting a bribe and conspiring to smuggle nearly $7,000 worth of marijuana into Barton jail.

Derek Brown, 25, a corrections officer at Hamilton-Wentworth Detention Centre, was arrested Feb. 24 while on duty and charged with selling marijuana in an east-end parking lot on his lunch break.

Brown has now been charged with accepting a bribe and breach of trust, along with conspiring to traffic drugs.

"He is charged with accepting a bribe in an attempt to smuggle cannabis marijuana into Barton jail," major crimes Detective Sergeant Peter Abi-Rashad said yesterday.

Police allege Brown, a part-time guard from Burlington, had accepted a bribe to smuggle 4 oz. (113.3 g) of marijuana into the jail. According to police, a gram of pot sells for between $10 and $20 on the street, but in jail costs up to $60.

Roxanne Montour, 19, of Hamilton has been charged with bribing a public officer and conspiracy to traffic drugs.

Vanessa Delbarba, 21, of Hamilton has also been charged with conspiracy to traffic.

Ministry of Community Safety and Correctional Services spokesperson Julia Noonan said the ministry launched an internal investigation when Brown was first arrested and suspended him without pay.

"Any time staff are charged with anything, we treat the matter very seriously," she said.

"There is no question that we do find drugs in searches at our institutions, and it's something we have to monitor and stop as much as we can."

Two years ago, a coroner's inquest into the death of a female inmate revealed rampant drug use in the jail.

Kimberly McLean, a 29-year-old St. Catharines heroin addict, was found dead in her cell in 2000.

Fellow inmates testified at the inquest that heroin, crack and powerful painkillers were all available inside the detention centre, usually brought in by prisoners coming into the jail on weekends.

The inquest heard heroin, cocaine and the painkiller Percocet were smuggled in wrapped in condoms and hidden in body cavities. Inmates were also able to move illegal drugs between locked cells by sliding them along the floor inside glossy magazines.

Brown and the two women were arrested as a result of a widening investigation into the murder of Michael Parmer on Sept. 9, 2005, police revealed yesterday.

The three accused appeared in court yesterday for a bail hearing.

Abi-Rashad said these arrests are the result of "offshoot investigations" and not directly linked to Parmer's murder.

Parmer, 22, of Niagara Falls, N.Y., was gunned down in a parking lot at Roxborough Avenue and Ottawa Street North, near the CD Bar Club.

Sarah Guitard, 20, of Hamilton was charged with counselling to commit assault in March.

Thirteen people have now been arrested as a result of the Parmer murder investigation, said Abi-Rashad yesterday.

They face a total of 75 charges "from weapons to conspiracy to traffic in ... crack cocaine, magic mushrooms, marijuana and methamphetamines," he said.

"We have identified individuals we believe have vital information that would assist in this investigation."

Abi-Rashad said investigators believe the people involved in Parmer's murder are from the Hamilton area.

pmorse@thespec.com

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