4 accused of smuggling cell phone into ACI in Cranston

PROVIDENCE, R.I. (WLNE) — The Rhode Island Attorney General’s Office said Thursday four people are accused of smuggling a cell phone into the Adult Correctional Institutions in Cranston.

Attorney General Peter Neronha said that between April 2022 and July 2022, Inesa Vinarskaya, Darrell Johnson, Fredrick Dahn, and Sequoya Reels-Felder “executed a scheme to smuggle a cell phone into the ACI.”

During this time, Vinarskaya, who’s 60 years old, was working as a speech pathologist contracted to work at the ACI, said the attorney general.

Her patient, 26-year-old Dahn, asked her to smuggle at least one cell phone into the prison for inmates to use, said Neronha.

Vinarskaya is accused of paying over $1,000 to smuggle the cell phone into the prison. Dahn then allegedly gave the phone to Reels-Felder, 31, who then shared it with Johnson, 30.

“Following an investigation, correctional officers apprehended Sequoya Reels-Felder and Darrell Johnson in their cell while they attempted to destroy the cellphone and flush it down a toilet,” said Neronha.

The four suspects were charged with multiple felony counts, including conveying a cell phone into the ACI, soliciting another to convey a cell phone into the ACI, and possessing a cell phone while incarcerated in the ACI.

Neronha said they are scheduled to appear in Providence County Superior Court at a later date.