By: Pepper Fisher
PORT ANGELES – A Clallam Bay Corrections Officer was arrested Tuesday on suspicion of planning to smuggle drugs, found in his possession, into the prison facility.
OPNET officers arrested 37-year-old Alfonso Cofone of Port Angeles following a lengthy investigation by Department of Corrections personnel who eventually brought in OPNET detectives and an agent with the FBI.
Investigators had gathered months of intelligence, which indicated that the corrections officer planned to receive drugs from a person outside of the county and deliver them to inmates.
The investigation uncovered probable cause to believe that the suspected corrections officer was Cofone, that he already had the drugs, and that he was planning to bring them to work on Tuesday.
When he got to work, he was met by authorities and a police K-9 trained to sniff out drugs. During the search of his vehicle, officers learned that the drugs were actually in another car at Cofone’s house in Port Angeles.
There, detectives recovered about 61 grams of suspected meth and 215 Suboxone strips, along with an eye dropper filled with suspected marijuana oil, along with various weapons and $2300 in cash.
Cofone was booked into the Clallam County Jail. Pending charges include possession with intent to deliver, along with weapons charges and intent to deliver within 1000 feet of a school.