Jan 26, 2017 4 min read

WAYNESBURG – Correctional officers accused of trading contraband at SCI-Greene prison testified Thursday they gave televisions and radios to inmates for confidential information with the approval from their immediate supervisors.

John Smith Jr. said it “absolutely” was a common practice of the correctional officers and their supervisors in the 17 years he worked at the state prison near Waynesburg to trade some goods as they worked closely with confidential informants to root out drugs, cellphones and weapons.

In the three years he worked on a special search team, Smith testified he was never reprimanded by his lieutenants or told to discontinue the practice.

“If there was something in the prison, they would come to me,” Smith said of three confidential informants working with him.

Smith, 46, along with Michael Berry, 35 and Andrew Schneider Jr., 35, are accused of running a “rent-a-center” at the prison. Testimony continued late into Thursday night as Greene County Judge Louis Dayich hopes to hold closing arguments today and send the case to the jury.

The investigation focused on video that showed the three correctional officers trading electronics on various days in January and February, although they weren’t charged until a year later.

Smith said an initial 30-day suspension on the issue was reduced to a written reprimand. Meanwhile, a 20-day suspension for Schneider, who also testified Thursday, was reduced to one day, his lawyer, David Wolf, said.

Smith said he and the correctional officers were “middle men” as they worked as a conduit between gathering confidential information and rewarding inmates for their cooperation.

“They don’t get in trouble,” Smith testified to the unwritten rules of the prison. “It’s the way things are done at the jail.”

Despite it being the third day of the trial, Berry’s defense attorney, David Russo, gave his opening remarks in which he said investigators turned his client’s life “upside down” without finding any records he gained financially from the contraband trade.

“It was the lieutenants against the little guys,” Russo said. “What you see is people doing their job because they’re instructed.”

Supervisors for the three correctional officers testified earlier in the trial they never told them to trade electronics or other contraband for information. But, Russo said covert surveillance video played during the trial showed supervisors in the same room as the correctional officers as items were being traded.

“If he is convicted, it is going to change how everything is done in the state because everyone is going to be afraid to do their job because they’ll be charged with a crime,” Russo said.

The majority of the third day of the trial was spent on testimony from lead investigator, Daniel Meinert, and the surveillance footage of the alleged crimes.

The video showed different clips of the defendants etching inmate property and accessing computer databases storing confidential inmate information, while other inmates were present. It also showed two inmates exchange a bag of property with Berry present, but he didn’t check to see what was in the bag.

Meinert testified during his investigation he searched Berry’s house for drugs and financial records, but found none. He said he found what appeared to be a recently burned stack of papers in Berry’s backyard fire pit.

Meinert said the investigation into drugs being brought into the prison is “still ongoing” and they’ve caught other staff members with drugs.

Russo and Meinert had a testy exchange during the cross-examination and Russo argued multiple times Meinert was not answering his questions.

Testimony is expected to resume this morning.

Staff writer Katie Anderson contributed to this report.