Michael Rose, 29, of New Carlisle, Ohio, was sentenced today in U.S. District Court to 12 months in prison for attempted extortion under the color of law.

Benjamin C. Glassman, United States Attorney for the Southern District of Ohio, Angela L. Byers, Special Agent in Charge, Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) and Montgomery County Sheriff Phil Plummer announced the sentence handed down today by U.S. District Judge Walter H. Rice.

According to the Statement of Facts in this case, Rose began working as a corrections officer at the Montgomery County Jail in spring 2016. In September of that year, Rose agreed to bring contraband – namely, a cell phone – into the jail in exchange for cash from an inmate. Likewise, in November 2016, Rose smuggled in a second cell phone and met with an associate of an inmate near a Dayton retail store to receive $1,500 as payment. Rose provided the phone knowing that the inmate intended to use it to direct drug trafficking activities from jail.

Rose pleaded guilty in February to one count of attempted extortion under color of official right.

“Any time a public employee takes a bribe, that is a breach of the public trust, but it is difficult to imagine a more serious instance of this crime than a corrections officer taking bribes from inmates in exchange for smuggling into the jail phones with which the inmates could carry on trafficking drugs,” U.S. Attorney Glassman said. “Federal prison is appropriate for Mr. Rose’s crimes.”

U.S. Attorney Glassman commended the investigation of this case by the Montgomery County Sheriff’s Office RANGE Task Force and the FBI, as well as Assistant United States Attorney Brent Tabacchi, who is representing the United States in this case.