Ex-West Virginia correctional officer sentenced in drug plot

A former West Virginia correctional officer has been sentenced to nearly four years in prison in a scheme to smuggle methamphetamine into jail.

WCHS-TV reports John Edward Roach II was sentenced Thursday in federal court in Charleston for possession with intent to distribute meth.

Court records show an inmate asked Roach to use his position as a corrections officer to smuggle meth into the South Central Regional Jail in Charleston. Roach was paid $2,000 and given 4 ounces (113 grams) of meth by an undercover agent posing as a drug trafficker.

The exchange occurred in a grocery store parking lot near the jail. Roach was arrested before the meth was taken into the jail.

Roach also has been charged in state court with delivery of a controlled substance.

The sentencing comes at a time when the state corrections system is under scrutiny for an unrelated incident over a photo that surfaced of corrections trainees giving what appears to be the Nazi salute. After the photo was released Dec. 5, state officials quickly suspended some employees and the governor ordered the firing of those involved.