Eric Dawson was given three years in prison for his role in helping smuggle tobacco into the prison for money
TRENTON - The second of two former New Jersey State Prison employees, who participated in a tobacco smuggling scheme three years ago, was sentenced to prison Friday.
Eric Dawson, a former corrections officer at the prison, was given a three-year sentence with no early release for his involvement in the large-scale smuggling scheme in 2013.
The relatively light sentence - another employee was given five years - is due to Dawson's cooperation with investigators, Mercer County Assistant Prosecutor Tim Ward said Friday.
Dawson's case actually marked the beginning of the investigation, which tied together inmates, civilians, Dawson and the other prison employee, Keith Harris. It resulted in 20 indictments in 2014.
Former prison employee found guilty
Investigators first looked into Dawson in the spring of 2013, only months after a tobacco ban went into effect at the prison, according to an investigator's testimony in court last month.
Dawson admitted to investigators at the time that he had received a substantial wire transfer payment from a civilian outside of the prison named Lorenzo Blakeney.
Blakeney frequently visited an inmate at the prison, according to the testimony.
That piece of information opened up the rest of the investigation, which ultimately revealed that inmates used Dawson and Harris to smuggle tobacco into the jail. In return, civilians outside of the prison made wire transfer payments to the two employees.
Dawson cooperated with investigators - first by admitting to his role in the crime and then by testifying at Harris's trial in March.
Harris was sentenced to five years in prison with no early release last month.
Anna Merriman may be reached at amerriman@njadvancemedia.com. Follow her on Twitter @anna_merriman Find The Times of Trenton on Facebook.