Correctional officer arrested

Published 12:09 pm Saturday, February 10, 2007

A Concordia Parish correctional facility officer was arrested Friday and charged with bringing drugs into jail.

According to a statement released Friday, the Concordia Parish Sheriff’s Office arrested correctional officer Deborah M. Harris, 51, 123 Peach St., Ridgecrest, on charges of malfeasance in office and possession of schedule I and II drugs with intent to distribute and introduction of contraband into a penal institution, after she allegedly brought illegal drugs into River Correctional Facility near Ferriday.

Harris, who has worked at CPSO for six months, worked in a control room at the facility.

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“Any law enforcement officer who would stoop this low can and will be prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law,” Sheriff Randy Maxwell said in the statement. “This is a slap in the face to all law enforcement officers everywhere.”

According to the statement, Maxwell pledged to follow Haris’ case closely and request that the district attorney’s office fully prosecute each charge.

The CPSO has been investigating Harris recently and reportedly caught her with the drugs, including packaged marijuana and several suspected Ecstasy pills, during a random check of employees.

“When you have the trust of your fellow employees, your employer and the community at large, and you break that trust, it just does to get any worse than that,” Maxwell said.

Harris is being held at the Concordia Parish jail without bond.