By Adam Swift
LYNN — Two Lynn residents who were convicted of stuffing a person full of drugs to smuggle them into the Middleton House of Corrections were sentenced Wednesday in Salem Superior Court.
A third person convicted in the conspiracy is scheduled for sentencing next week, according to the Essex County District Attorney’s office.
Justice Gonzalez, 25, Kyrikoula “Carol” Iliopoulos, 28, and Darrell Wheeler, 27, were all convicted on Sept. 21 of conspiracy to violate drug laws following an eight-day trial.
Gonzalez was sentenced to three to five years in state prison and Iliopoulos to two and a half years in the House of Corrections. Wheeler will be sentenced on Oct. 24.
Gonzalez, while in pre-trial custody in the Middleton House of Corrections, conspired with his co-defendants to smuggle heroin, marijuana, prescription medications and other contraband into the jail for the purpose of selling it to other inmates, according to a release from the DA’s office.
Gonzalez made plans to post bail for an inmate, put drugs in him and send him back into jail so Gonzalez could sell the drugs inside the jail. In April 2014, Iliopoulos posted the $300 bail for an unnamed inmate and brought him to a location in Lynn, where drugs and contraband were placed into his body cavity, according to the DA.
Iliopoulos then “surrendered” him to the Haverhill District Court. When he returned to the House of Corrections, the man asked to be housed with Gonzalez, which created suspicion among corrections officers. Corrections officers found he was full of drugs which were eventually recovered.
Adam Swift can be reached at [email protected]