Officer charged trying to smuggle drugs into jail

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    DES MOINES, Iowa (KCCI) — A detention officer with the Polk County Sheriff’s Office has found himself on the other side of the law, charged with four felony counts of possessing contraband in the county jail.

According to the sheriff’s office, detectives arrested 26-year-old Mario Antonio Rocha, of Des Moines, just before noon on Tuesday. Rocha had been employed with the PCSO as a detention officer at the Polk County Jail for just over a year.

Court documents show the PCSO received a tip on Aug. 2 that Rocha had allegedly been bringing the narcotic K2 into the jail for an inmate “on multiple occasions.” Polk County Sheriff Kevin Schneider specified that Rocha admitted to smuggling the drugs in on four occasions.

“We are still conducting some more follow-up on it, but at this time, we believe that we have the main player and the only player involved in the situation,” he said.

The PCSO says Rocha submitted his two-week notice of resignation on Aug. 4, but when he was interviewed by investigators on Aug. 5, he was told the two weeks were not necessary.

Court documents show Rocha admitted to using his personal cellphone to communicate with an inmate’s significant other.

At a press conference, Schneider was asked about the scale of the investigation into the alleged drug smuggling.

“There’s no sign of any other staff members involved,” he said.

The sheriff noted having to investigate and arrest a staff member is not an easy task.

“When I took this job a few years ago, elected by the people, one of the things I said is ‘I’m gonna do what’s right, not necessarily what’s popular,'” he said. “Well, it’s never popular to arrest one of your own employees, but it was what was right.

Schneider said there are roughly 230 detention officers working at the Polk County Jail, and more than 1,000 inmates.

“And, once in a while, you get a bag egg,” he said.

Schneider did not specify exactly how Rocha allegedly smuggled in the drugs, but said, “The drug world, as we know, is ever-changing, and there’s items that could be sprayed on paper. There’s items that can come in disguise of pills, so we will continue to monitor, and we do that now. We see things come in through the mail, we’ve changed the mail procedure, so we will try to stay up on it and keep it from happening again.”

Schneider was asked if there are charges pending for the involved inmate and inmate’s significant other.

“I can’t really answer that right now because we’re still investigating,” he said.

Schneider said that transparency to the citizens of Polk County was a factor in choosing to hold a press conference on Rocha’s arrest.

“We are not afraid to take care of things that need to be taken care of in our own agency,” he said.

Rocha was released from custody on a surety bond early Tuesday afternoon. All four charges Rocha faces are Class D felonies, each carrying up to five years in prison.

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