EKB News

Jury selection began today in the trial of a federal prison guard accused of smuggling drugs to an inmate. 30 year old Alice Marie Stapleton of Johnson County is charged with conspiring to smuggle drugs into the federal prison at Martin County and possessing drugs with the intent to distribute them. Stapleton has claimed that she was coerced into breaking the law by an inmate who threatened to hurt her if she didn't smuggle heroin, marijuana and cell phones into the prison. Stapleton has been suspended from the prison since her arrest last year. If convicted, she could face penalties of up to as much as 20 to 30 years in prison. A co-defendant, Maria Mims, is also on trial, accused of smuggling drugs to an inmate's mother in Indianapolis. The trial is expected to last through Friday.