Former Nassau County jail nurse admits to relationship with inmate 

A nurse has pleaded guilty to official misconduct after authorities accused her in February of starting a romantic relationship with an inmate while working at Nassau County’s jail and smuggling marijuana to him.

Court records show Carroll Ann Clarke Pilgrim, 32, of Far Rockaway, Queens, admitted to the misdemeanor Monday in Hempstead district court. A sixth-degree conspiracy charge, also a misdemeanor, will be dropped when she is sentenced in September, according to court officials.

Judge Rhonda Fischer agreed to sentence Clarke Pilgrim to no jail time and three years of probation under the terms of a plea bargain the defendant negotiated with the district attorney’s office, court spokesman Daniel Bagnuola said Wednesday.

Bagnuola said the deal is set to include the judge granting the nurse a certificate of relief from civil disabilities. Such a certificate can remove the consequences of a conviction in regards to holding an occupational license.

Clarke Pilgrim’s attorney could not be reached for comment Wednesday.

Authorities arrested Clarke Pilgrim at the jail on Feb. 28.

The nurse and the inmate “considered themselves husband and wife,” and she brought banned substances, including marijuana, into the jail multiple times for him, a prosecutor said at her March arraignment.

Clarke Pilgrim told a district attorney’s office investigator that she got romantically involved with the inmate, identified in court records as Laphael McClenic, 33, after meeting him on the job and brought marijuana inside the jail multiple times, according to a criminal complaint.

Court documents state the nurse told authorities she never had sexual contact with McClenic, but also brought him candy and a ring sizer – the latter because she wanted them to have matching rings.

Days before her arrest, an investigator saw Clarke Pilgrim attending McClenic’s robbery trial in Nassau County Court, records show.

McClenic was not charged in the matter involving the nurse, according to his Mineola defense attorney, Maureen McBride.

But records show the judge in McClenic’s case declared a mistrial during jury selection in March at McBride’s request after McClenic’s name became public in connection with Clarke Pilgrim's arrest. Court records show McClenic’s case remains pending.

The district attorney’s office declined to comment on either case Wednesday.

As an employee of Nassau Health Care Corporation, the jail’s medical vendor, Clarke Pilgrim was a public servant at the time of her arrest. She no longer works for the company, a hospital spokesman said Wednesday.

The case marks the second prosecution of a Nassau jail nurse in recent years in connection with a smuggling scheme.