GRAND FORKS, ND – A Grand Forks County Correctional Center employee is facing charges.
Sheriff Andy Schneider says his office received intelligence that a correctional officer had smuggled contraband into the jail. An investigation was launched by the sheriff’s office and North Dakota Bureau of Criminal Investigation.
The investigation showed correctional officer Juan Ortiz Lopez was a suspect, and he was interviewed on June 16. At the end of the interview, he was arrested on suspicion of delivery of an electronic device to an inmate, which is a Class C Felony, and was booked into the jail. After he was jailed, a search of jail cells discovered a cell phone with a charger inside an inmate’s mattress.
The incident is under investigation. Ortiz Lopez is no longer employed at the jail.
