State Attorney Bill Eddins announced that on October 1st, Circuit Court Judge Darlene Dickey sentenced former Correctional Officer Mia Martinez-Welch, 22 years of age, to 18 months state prison after she entered a plea to Unlawful Use of Two-Way Communications Device to Facilitate the Commission of a Felony and Introduction of Contraband.
The charges stemmed from an investigation into a contraband cellular phone seized from an inmate dormitory at the Santa Rosa Correctional Institute. Records extracted from the phone revealed that several female correctional officers employed at the prison, including Martinez-Welch, were having contact with the inmate connected to the phone. Text messages between the inmate and Martinez-Welch indicated that while working as a correctional officer, she had been smuggling tobacco and narcotics (including methamphetamine and MDMA) into the prison for the inmate. Martinez-Welch was terminated following her arrest in November 2018.
The investigation and arrest were conducted by the Office of Inspector General. Assistant State Attorney Amber Rowland prosecuted the case for the State. Please contact Amber Rowland at (850) 981-5500 if you have additional questions.
