Oneida County corrections officer charged with helping to smuggle drugs into a prison
Whitestown, N.Y. - An Oneida County corrections officer has been charged with helping to smuggle drugs into a prison.
A prisoner involved in the operation was also charged, deputies said in an Oneida County Sheriff’s Office Facebook post. The pair were arrested over the last four days.
The county correctional facility in Whitestown staff was tipped off in August to a corrections officer bringing drugs into the prison, said Lt. Christopher Paravati, a spokesperson for the office.
Paravati declined to say if or how the guard and the inmate colluded to commit the crime.
Investigators found that Correction Officer Teresa Crim, 29, of Ilion, was helping bring drugs into the prison, Paravati said. Crim was hired by the county in 2023. She was suspended from work with pay while the termination process is pending, Paravati said.
“I am very incensed that this officer violated her Oath of Office and potentially put the safety and security of the correctional facility and their fellow officer’s safety at risk,” Sheriff Robert Maciol said in a statement Monday.
On Friday, Crim was charged with three misdemeanors:
Official misconduct
Second-degree promoting prison contraband
Sixth-degree conspiracy
Jonathan Franklin, 28, of Utica was already being held in the correctional facility for his involvement in other crimes, deputies said.
On Monday, Franklin was charged with two misdemeanors for his involvement in the smuggling:
Second-degree promoting prison contraband
Sixth-degree conspiracy
Franklin previously spent four years in state prison on a criminal possession of a controlled substance charge, according to state prison records.
In 2025, he was arrested after being caught in a drug bust, and was being held at the correctional facility as a result.
Crim was released on her own recognizance, Paravati said.
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