2nd Mecklenburg jail worker fired for smuggling items to same person, sheriff says

A second worker at the Mecklenburg County jail has been fired and arrested in as many days after they were both accused of providing banned items to the same person in custody. This time, it was a detention center officer.

The sheriff’s office said it opened an investigation into Goodwin Stuppard after receiving a tip. During the investigation, he admitted to smuggling tobacco items and charging a cellphone for someone held in the jail.

Stuppard had been a detention center officer for nearly seven years.

State law prohibits tobacco products on jail premises, the sheriff’s office said. Providing tobacco products to someone in custody is a misdemeanor, and providing a cellphone is a felony, according to the sheriff’s office.

Samara Black was fired from her job with jail health care provider Wellpath and charged with smuggling a cellphone to someone in custody, the sheriff’s office said Monday.

Both firings were connected to the same individual in custody, sheriff’s office spokeswoman Janet Parker told The Charlotte Observer.

The person in custody will face criminal charges and other disciplinary sanctions for possessing tobacco products and a cellphone, Parker said.

Sheriff Garry McFadden said his office takes accusations of misconduct seriously.

“Mr. Stuppard’s actions are a violation of the law he swore to uphold,” McFadden said in the release. “Terminating a staff member is never an easy decision but all employees of the Mecklenburg County Sheriff’s Office are required to demonstrate professional and ethical conduct.”