JAILERS CHARGED WITH OFFENSES

Two Cumberland County jailers were charged Wednesday with having sex with
inmates and selling alcohol, drugs and other items.

Latoya Christel Swartz was charged with nine counts of furnishing
controlled substances and nine counts of possessing controlled substances.

She is charged with four counts of sexual activity by a custodian and three
counts of trading contraband with inmates.

Swartz, 25, of the 7500 block of Overbrook Drive, is accused of providing
liquor, food, prescription medicine, cigars and pornographic magazines to
inmates and having sex with them.

Promises Malloy Ward, 24, of the 6400 block of Starbrook Drive, is charged
with seven counts of trading contraband and one count of having sex with an
inmate. Investigators say Ward wrote letters to an inmate, had sex with him
and gave him a cell phone.

Bail was set at $1 million for Swartz; $1.2 million for Ward.

They were suspended with pay July 3, when the investigation began.

Sheriff Moose Butler said the jailers "do not represent the people who work
in this jail day in and day out.

"We've got good people. We've made mistakes."

Ward and Swartz had worked as sworn officers at the jail since Sept. 30,
Butler has said.

He said Wednesday that pre-employment background checks on Ward and Swartz
showed no problems or prior criminal records.

Sheriff's Maj. Sam Pennica said the women began at the old jail and moved
to the Detention Center when it opened in February. The jailers worked in
permanent detention pods that house male inmates who are awaiting trial on
felony charges, including murder.

Jailers work alone in the pods, Pennica said.

He said it appears that Ward and Swartz did not conspire with one another
to bring in contraband.

Butler said jailers are trained "that they don't get personally involved
with inmates."

He said investigators discovered that the alleged offenses had been going
on for seven months.

Inmate Requests

Inmates asked for items and gave Ward and Swartz money to buy them, Pennica
said. The jailers, he said, kept any money that was left over.

Pennica said the items became "bargaining tools for inmates."

Butler said the jailers carried the items in handbags. Jailers can no
longer carry bags into the pods.

"We basically had to put procedures in place that say, 'We don't trust
anybody,'" he said.

The jailers were fired last week, Pennica said. They had been out of the state.

Neither woman would comment on the charges.

They were being held in the Harnett County jail Wednesday and are scheduled
to appear in Cumberland County Court today. Pennica said prosecutors will
ask a judge to sign an order sending the women to Women's Prison in Raleigh
to await trial.

Pennica said at least two more people may be charged when the State Bureau
of Investigation and deputies finish the probe. Pennica said the
investigation will continue for at least two weeks.