The Latest: Prison guard pleads guilty to smuggling drugs

HELENA, Mont. – The Latest on a prison drug-smuggling case (all times local):

4 p.m.

A Montana State Prison guard has pleaded guilty to smuggling marijuana and tobacco to inmates.

U.S. District Judge Sam Haddon accepted 25-year-old Martin Reap’s plea on Wednesday and set sentencing for Oct. 18.

Reap says he brought the contraband into the Deer Lodge prison about 20 times between 2015 and 2016 and took between $6,300 and $6,500 from associates of the inmates by mail or through wire transfers.

Reap’s family watched the hearing in U.S. District Court in Helena. His father, Robert Reap, says this was his son’s first offence, and that his son is a good kid who got himself in a bad situation.

Reap pleaded guilty to a charge of accepting bribes. In exchange for his plea, federal prosecutors plan to drop additional drug conspiracy, possession and distribution charges.

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11 p.m.

Prosecutors say a guard at Montana State Prison made up to $6,500 selling drugs and tobacco to inmates.

Martin Reap plans to plead guilty to a charge of accepting bribes. His change-of-plea hearing is scheduled for Wednesday afternoon in U.S. District Court in Helena.

Assistant U.S. Attorney Joseph Thaggard wrote in a court filing ahead of the hearing that inmates asked Reap to bring them tobacco in 2014.

Thaggard says Reap told an FBI agent that he later smuggled between nine and 16 ounces of marijuana and a small amount of synthetic marijuana into the prison.

The document says associates of the inmates mailed between $100 to $150 to Reap’s home each time he brought in tobacco and drugs, ultimately taking between $6,300 and $6,500.