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Mass. Prison Guard Charged In Alleged Scheme To Smuggle Drugs To Inmates

WOBURN (CBS) – Three people, including a guard, have been charged in an alleged scheme to smuggle drugs into a state prison.

Brandon Beach, 30, a guard at the Souza-Baranowski Correctional Center in Shirley, was charged with conspiring with an inmate and his mother to get heroin and cocaine to inmates, according to the Middlesex District Attorney's Office.

Sandra Lomastro, 69, of Fall River, and her son, Robert Page, 51, who had been an inmate at Souza-Baranowski, are also charged.

Officials began to investigate illegal drug use at the prison in March after officers smelled the odor of marijuana in a housing unit, prosecutors said.

After monitoring phone calls by Page, prosecutors said, investigators found he was allegedly talking to his mother in code about delivering illegal drugs to the prison.

While conducting surveillance on Lomastro's Fall River home, investigators saw Beach go in and leave with a black bag that Lomastro had carried in a short time before, prosecutors said.

In a traffic stop some time later, Beach was allegedly found to be in possession of cocaine, heroin, marijuana, alcohol and cigarettes, prosecutors said.

Beach is accused of trafficking in heroin and cocaine, intent to distribute cocaine and marijuana, and other charges. He was held on $50,000 bail and is subject to GPS monitoring if he makes bail.

Lomastro is charged with conspiracy to violate drug laws. She was released on personal recognizance.

Beach and Lomastro are scheduled for a pretrial hearing Sept. 24 in Woburn Superior Court.

Page was charged with conspiracy to violate the drug laws and being a habitual offender. He was held on $5,000 bail and is scheduled for a pretrial hearing Sept. 17.

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