A former prison case manager Tuesday was sentenced to 46 months after pleading earlier to two counts, one related to bribery and the other to smuggling contraband.
Ollie Rose III was ordered to report for his sentence no sooner than April 29, according to documents filed in his case.
Rose was a former case manager at what was known as Caledonia Correctional Institution in Tillery, a prison which has since been named Roanoke River Correctional Institution.
District Judge Louise Wood Flanagan in New Bern sentenced Rose to 46 months for counts one and two of the original federal indictment and ordered that sentence be served concurrently. Upon completion of the sentence Rose will serve two years of supervised release, which will also be served concurrently.
A special assessment of $200 was assigned and counts three through 11 charged against him were dismissed.
Last week both the government and Rose’s public defender presented sentencing memorandums to the court.
In a memo written by Corey Amundson, chief of the United States Department Justice’s Public Integrity Section, the official said, “As a prison official, the defendant, Ollie Rose, III, took an oath to be faithful to North Carolina and well and truly execute the duties of office.
“He violated that oath, time and time again, by accepting bribes to smuggle contraband to inmates over the course of at least two years. By doing so, he placed the lives of inmates and prison staff at risk, threatened the security of the larger community, and diminished confidence in law enforcement. Rose’s repeated betrayal of his duty and abuse of public trust demand a meaningful term of imprisonment.”
Caledonia "particularly problematic"
Amundson wrote that the FBI initially opened this investigation in 2018 after a request from the North Carolina Department of Public Safety in light of “an alarming increase in contraband — including narcotics and cellular telephones — found within the North Carolina Department of Corrections prisons and the deaths of five corrections officers killed in the line of duty in 2017.” The FBI examined reports from North Carolina prisons where corruption appeared to be most prevalent and determined the former Caledonia Correctional Institution to be a particularly problematic facility.
To date, three former Caledonia officials, including Rose, have pleaded guilty to accepting bribes to smuggle contraband into the facility.
On August 5, 2021, the court sentenced Kenneth Farr, a former correctional officer, to a within-guidelines sentence of 24 months imprisonment, followed by one year of supervised release, and ordered forfeiture in the amount of $2,200.
On October 1, 2021, the court sentenced Jeremy Chambers, another former correctional officer, to a within-guidelines sentence of 24 months imprisonment.
Rose was charged in an 11-count indictment with multiple counts of extortion under color of official right and possession with intent to distribute marijuana, as well as a conspiracy to violate the Travel Act by engaging in bribery.
He pleaded guilty to count one — conspiracy to violate the Travel Act — and count two — extortion under color of official right.
As part of his plea agreement, Rose admitted to his criminal conduct through a detailed factual basis.
Rose worked in law enforcement for nearly two decades. He began his career as a Northampton County Sheriff’s Office deputy in 2001 and worked at Caledonia for over 17 years, first as a correctional officer and then as a case manager where he was responsible for supervising inmates through counseling, developing case plans, and addressing inmates’ questions and issues. He also managed the prison’s K-9 program.
Abuse of position
Beginning in at least November 2018, Rose began to abuse his position as a prison official by smuggling contraband to inmates in exchange for money and drugs for his own consumption. Rose used a dirty cell phone to communicate with his co-conspirators to arrange drug deals and meetings outside the prison where he would obtain the drugs to smuggle into the prison.
The scheme involved the use of codewords to communicate via text message and phone call as well as in notes associated with the money transfers on Cash App to conceal their illicit nature. As laid out in the presentence investigation report and as he admitted in the factual basis, Rose smuggled contraband into Caledonia on 14 occasions in the span of just five months from June 2020 through October 2020 when he was charged by a federal grand jury.
The contraband included marijuana, K2, suboxone strips, and what he believed to be oxycodone pills.
On one occasion, Rose arranged to obtain contraband from a former Caledonia correctional officer, though a current Caledonia correctional officer met him instead.
Rose ultimately received at least $42,000 in exchange for smuggling contraband to inmates. Rose’s associate — identified as Individual 1 in the indictment and factual basis — managed an account on the mobile application Cash App, where he collected money from inmates and their family members or friends.
Sometimes, inmates also paid Rose in cash or with a portion of drugs for Rose’s own use.
The government found that Rose’s offense level was in a range of 46 to 57 months.
Acceptance of responsibility
The government did note in the memo that Rose has demonstrated acceptance of responsibility for his offense by pleading guilty and has assisted authorities in the investigation or prosecution of his own misconduct by timely notifying authorities of his intention to enter a plea of guilty, thereby permitting the government to avoid preparing for trial and permitting the government and the court to allocate their resources efficiently.
“The nature and circumstances of Rose’s conduct require a serious and meaningful punishment,” Amundson wrote. “Indeed, the community — historically and presently — requires that real, tangible, and severe consequences meet those who gain a position of public trust and then abuse that trust for personal gain.”
Wrote Amundson: “Though tasked with supervising inmates and facilitating their successful rehabilitation, Rose instead exploited his position of trust for his own financial gain. And he did so notwithstanding the known danger to those inside and outside of the prison.”
This was no one-off criminal episode or temporary lapse in judgment, Amundson wrote. “Rose was prolific, making a series of harmful choices over and over again for at least two years. In exchange for payment, he smuggled contraband to a variety of inmates, including on fourteen separate occasions within the span of just five months.”
Notably, the Public Integrity Section wrote, “Rose’s smuggling included the dangerous drug K2, which creates unpredictable and, in some cases, life-threatening effects including nausea, anxiety, paranoia, brain swelling, seizures, hallucinations, aggression, heart palpitations, and chest pains.
“While he now comes before the Court seemingly contrite for his actions, witnesses indicate that shortly after his arrest Rose returned to Caledonia (presumably to pick up his vehicle), walked over to the fence, and called to several inmates, ‘They can’t get me.’”
Amundson wrote that “Rose may argue that his otherwise lawful life merits leniency, but it bears emphasis that only those without serious criminal records are eligible for positions of trust like Rose held at Caledonia. Nor is the fact that he will no longer be able to hold such a position of trust proper grounds for a shorter sentence.”
Amundson said that Rose violated the oath he took when he first came to work at Caledonia. “This oath is important. The public places a profound trust placed in those selected to ensure the care, custody, and supervision of inmates, as well as an expectation that these public officials will honor the critical responsibility they have chosen to assume.
“Yet while serving in a position dedicated to safeguarding the people of North Carolina, Rose violated this sacred trust by deliberately undermining that mission for personal gain. Through his conduct, Rose willingly exposed the inmates and staff at Caledonia, as well as the broader community, to the very dangers he was supposed to safeguard against. And he actively undermined the prison environment, which is crucial to our system of justice.”
In an August 2020 telephone call between Rose and Individual 1, Rose bragged in response to learning that the Cash App account had received a total of $980. “What I tell you baby, I do what I do.”
Rose could have blown the whistle on inmate requests, the document says. “Instead, Rose leveraged his supervisory authority over inmates to implement an elaborate scheme of providing dangerous drugs and other contraband to inmates in exchange for money and drugs for his own benefit.”
Evidence suggested that Rose used a significant portion of the proceeds to pay for getaways with Individual 1 and for drugs for himself, rather than to pay for necessities. “As Individual 1 told the FBI, they spent the money on fishing equipment, cigars, and fishing trips.”
The most prolific and successful
Amundson wrote that while Rose is not the only former Caledonia officer to be charged with accepting bribes, “Rose stands out as the most prolific and successful in the scope of his criminal activities.”
Farr admitted to smuggling marijuana on a few occasions and what he believed to be oxycodone in exchange for a total of $2,200, while Chambers smuggled marijuana, suboxone, and K2 to inmates several times in exchange for a total of $3,700. “In contrast, Rose smuggled a far greater quantity of contraband — including dangerous substances like K2 — and provided that contraband to 13 different inmates in just five months. Rose ran a sophisticated operation that enabled him to successfully smuggle contraband for over two years and receive at least $42,000 in bribes through his scheme, significantly more than the other defendants who accepted bribes totaling between $2,000 and $4,000.”
Public defender memo
G. Alan DuBois who served as Rose’s attorney throughout the case said in his memo that his client maintained “that his honorable and extensive military service, personal characteristics, lack of prior criminal history and low risk of recidivism, and acceptance of responsibility warrant a sentence no greater than the bottom of the advisory guideline range as determined at sentencing.”
The crimes occurred toward the end of his career, DuBois wrote, and are acts “for which he is deeply ashamed.”
DuBois said Rose destroyed his career as a case manager at Caledonia to earn quick money as the result of greed. “Mr. Rose greatly regrets that his actions jeopardized the security of a correctional institution and caused hardship and disappointment to his family. With the benefit of hindsight into his conduct, Mr. Rose understands that he will never again engage in such dishonorable behavior.”
Rose was born in Emporia and his father left home when he was 4.
Army veteran
At 23 he enlisted in the Army and trained to be a medical specialist. In May of 1983 he married his wife of 38 years, with whom he shares two adult children. “Ollie maintains a close relationship with his sons and extended family members.”
In 1983 while stationed at Fort Carson outside of Colorado Springs, an article was published in the Colorado Springs Gazette in which Rose was the recipient of a humanitarian award from the Association of the United States Army for aiding a 14-year-old girl who was the victim of an assault. “Thirty-nine years later, Ollie still vividly recalls spotting the girl in the wilderness as he and two other soldiers embarked on a trek through the woods. She had been assaulted by her boyfriend, who cut her throat, and would have died but for Ollie and the two others who found her and saved her life.”
DuBois said, “Rose’s honorable service in the United States Army as a Combat Medic Specialist for nearly thirteen years merits consideration by this court in determining an appropriate sentence. Ollie served in the U.S. Army for twelve years and eleven months as a Combat Medic Specialist.”
He attained the rank of E-5 Sergeant and deployed to Korea, Germany, Louisiana, Iraq, and Saudi Arabia.
Rose came before the court as a 63-year-old man with no prior criminal history other than one minor traffic violation.
“Upon his arrest in October 2020, he was placed on pretrial release and allowed to live at home as this case progressed. He has fully complied with court-ordered release conditions for nearly seventeen months, thus demonstrating his respect for this court’s orders and the law. “Furthermore, Ollie submits that his age and background also predict a lower rate of recidivism. As he will not be able to obtain a job in the public safety sector, the likelihood of recidivism is further diminished. Because of his conduct, Ollie lost his career, his retirement and state government benefits.”
