Attorney and Wyatt Detention Center detainee plead guilty in connection to contraband conspiracy
PROVIDENCE, R.I. (WLNE) — Acting United States Attorney Sara Miron Bloom said two people involved in a scheme to smuggle contraband into the Donald W. Wyatt Detention Center pled guilty Wednesday.
51-year-old Massachusetts attorney Theresa Marie DiJoseph pled guilty to possession with intent to distribute a controlled substance analogue, conspiracy to distribute a controlled substance, and providing a prohibited object to an inmate.
36-year-old Matthew Pizarro, a Wyatt Detention Center detainee, pled guilty to conspiracy to possess with intent to distribute controlled substances, distribution of Suboxone, and possession of contraband by an inmate.
In court on Wednesday, Bloom said DiJoseph admitted to participating in the scheme, in which attempted to smuggle ten papers soaked with K2, which is a synthetic marijuana, into the detention center in late 2023, conspired with three people for the attempted smuggle, and told the judge she made false statements to the FBI regarding where the substance came from.
According to Bloom, Pizarro admitted in court that he possessed and distributed contraband inside the detention center, which was transported by Kaii Almedia-Falcones, a former Correctional Officer.
On Feb. 14, 2021, surveillance video showed officer Almedia-Falcones visiting Pizarro’s jail cell for a little under a minute. Pizzaro then visited a detainee, Edward Nolasco, for under minute.
The next day, correctional officers conducted a strip search of Nolasco and found a package containing suboxone strips, as well as searched Pizarro’s cell where they discovered a plastic bottle with 4.5 grams of marijuana inside a pillowcase, according to the Department of Justice.
On July 9, 2023, DiJoseph used her credentials as an attorney to meet with a detainee that is allegedly involved in the conspiracy, who she had a personal relationship with, which she admitted to doing multiple times.
On Dec. 1, 2023, correctional officers seized the 10 sheets of paper from DiJoseph, which was sent to an FBI testing lab that later confirmed it was schedule I controlled substances.
DiJoseph was arrested in July 2024.
Nolasco pled guilty on June 20, 2023 to possession with intent to distribute Suboxone, possession of contraband by an inmate, and possession with intent to distribute Suboxone, and was sentenced to forty-eight months of incarceration, followed by three years of supervised release on Nov. 3, 2024.
Almeida-Falcones pled guilty on June 10, 2024 to providing contraband to an inmate, and was sentenced to six months in federal prison to be followed by twenty-four months of supervised release on Nov. 14, 2024.
Pizarro is expected to be sentenced on June 10, 2025.
DiJoseph is expected to be sentenced on June 12, 2025.
