Former jail guard arrested for sneaking alcohol, tobacco to inmate

PERKINS TWP. — A former corrections officer at the Erie County jail is on the other side of the bars after smuggling tobacco, alcohol and cellphones to a high-profile inmate.Austin L. Moore, 21, who worked as a part-time jail guard for just under a year before leaving earlier in 2016, faces six felony counts of bribery and one felony count of engaging in a pattern of corrupt activity. The arrest occurred following a recent secret indictment process made publicly available this week.Moore is one of six to be formally charged in the contraband scheme, which authorities believe developed out of a relationship between Moore and inmate Mohammad Hamad.Hamad, 28, was sentenced to five years in prison in September for his role in organizing a jewelry heist in 2014.The heist targeted a 79-year-old woman who patronized his father's jewelry store, International Jewelry in the Sandusky Mall. Two co-conspirators tied the woman up in her home and took off with $150,000 in custom jewelry.Hamad slipped an ankle monitor bracelet and skipped town — he fled to Virginia and evaded authorities for almost a year before federal marshals caught him in April — prior to his court date.In August, upon being back in Erie County's custody, Hamad landed an additional felony charge for allegedly providing drugs to a woman outside the jail.Erie County Sheriff Paul Sigsworth said the first of six deliveries that Moore made to Hamad occurred in early May. Another corrections officer reported Moore acting suspiciously, prompting an investigation that ended in indictments against Moore, Hamad and others.Sigsworth said this is the first time he can remember such a criminal arrangement, between an inmate and guard, occurred inside the jail."Based on the information we have, (Moore's) behavior is extremely disappointing," Sigsworth said. "He not only violated the public trust because of his behavior, but he clearly violated public safety and endangered the safety and welfare of not only every employee in the jail but of all of the prisoners as well."The deliveries are believed to have escalated, beginning with tobacco that Moore would bring into the jail.As a relationship developed between Moore and Hamad, later deliveries included tequila disguised in water bottles; two cellphones; a portable phone charger; a screwdriver; and a light bulb socket capable of charging a phone.Inmates used the screwdriver to replace a socket inside a light fixture at the jail, Sigsworth said. This enabled them to charge the contraband phones.Hamad is believed to have distributed the contraband to other inmates, whose families would put money on his jail commissary account.Moore received $300 for each of the first three deliveries, according to Sigsworth. This was allegedly paid by Hamad's sister, Dalal Hamad, who would meet Moore outside the jail. Later deliveries ran between $500 and $600 per transaction and were paid by another woman, who is indicted but not yet arrested.Mohammad Hamad, Dalal Hamad and the other woman each face six felony counts of bribery and one felony count of engaging in corrupt activity.Two additional defendants are charged with bribery: Fred E. Collins, 35, who was Hamad's roommate in the jail and associate Candace Sullivan. Collins is believed to have been the recipient of the second cellphone, which came in during the sixth and last delivery.Moore, AustinHamad, MohammadHamad, DalalCollins, FredSullivan, Candace