Rikers Islands officers, one from LI, charged with smuggling contraband to inmates
File photo from 2014 shows the Rikers Island jail complex in New York Credit: AP/Seth Wenig
Two Rikers Island jail guards — including a 35-year-old from Lawrence who was having a romantic relationship with an inmate — have been charged with several others in a bribery conspiracy case involving the smuggling of cellphones and drugs to prisoners affiliated with the Bloods gang, according to the U.S. attorney’s office.
The guard from Lawrence, Krystle Burrell, is accused of accepting bribes totaling about $9,780 in exchange for smuggling, in summer 2021, at least two unauthorized cellphones to her inmate-lover, Terrae Hinds, also known as "Tomato Sauce," the office said in a news release.
The contraband cellphones were smuggled into the Anna M. Kross Center, one of the jails on Rikers Island. The complex is beset by what the U.S. Department of Justice has said is a “deep-seated culture of violence.”
By accepting the bribes, Burrell was “facilitating Hinds’ contraband smuggling business and permitting Hinds and others to violate” Department of Correction regulations, according to the U.S. attorney’s office’s news release.
In a recorded call in jail the two said, "'I love you' to each other and they mimicked a kiss over the phone," according to a charging document. Later in the year, the two discussed apparently having had a sexual relationship at Rikers, the document said.
The other guard charged, Katrina Patterson, is accused of taking $34,090 in bribes in exchange for supplying an inmate with contraband. Drugs and a cellphone were later found in his cell, believed to have been from Patterson.
“In addition to obtaining surveillance video from Rikers Island showing Patterson bringing unauthorized items” to the inmate, text messages were seized showing a request for “4 black joints in 1 paper,” and Patterson responding, “it better be wrapped so many times I don’t want to smell it,” according to a news release. Patterson and a co-conspirator also discussed the need to delete their texts.
Patterson, 31, of Jamaica, Queens, also couldn’t be reached for comment.
Burrell's attorney, Michael Hueston of Brooklyn, declined to comment. Hinds' attorney, Samuel Gregory of Brooklyn, said of the case: "It's just an allegation now." Patterson's attorney, Nora Hirozawa, of the Federal Defenders of New York, didn't return a message. Burrell has been suspended; Patterson's status couldn't be determined.
Hinds was held after arraignment in federal court. The two guards and others charged were released, except for one, who will be arraigned at a later date, according to John Marzulli, a spokesman for the U.S. attorney's office.
“The defendants, public servants on the City’s payroll, allegedly smuggled contraband, including cell phones and drugs, to incarcerated gang members at Rikers Island,” according to a statement by U.S. Attorney Breon Peace in the news release.
Rikers Island, which the city plans to close by 2027 in favor of borough-based jails, continues to suffer from chronic absenteeism by guards — an increase of threefold since 2019 — a problem that New York City has said is caused by what amounts to an illegal “sick-out” by the labor unions. Union officials have denied this.
Matthew Chayes, a Newsday reporter since 2007, covers New York City.
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