Corrections Officer Indicted In Connection With Bringing Drugs Into Prison

WOBURN – Middlesex District Attorney Marian Ryan announced that a Department of Corrections officer, an inmate and a Fall River woman have been indicted and arraigned in Woburn Superior Court in connection with a scheme to bring heroin and cocaine into the Souza-Baranowski Correctional Center.

Brandon Beach, 30, was charged with trafficking in heroin over 18 grams, trafficking in cocaine over 36 grams, possession with intent to distribute cocaine, possession with intent to distribute marijuana, delivery of articles to an inmate and conspiracy to violate the drug laws.  Woburn Superior Court Assistant Clerk Matt Day ordered that the defendant be held on $50,000 and be subject to GPS monitoring if he posted bail.

Sandra Lomastro, 69, of Fall River, was charged with conspiracy to violate the drug laws.  Assistant Clerk Day released her on personal recognizance.
            
Beach and Lomastro are scheduled for a pretrial hearing on September 24 in WoburnSuperior Court.  

Robert Page, 51, was charged with conspiracy to violate the drug laws and being a habitual offender.  Assistant Clerk Day ordered that he be held on $5,000 bail.
            
Page is scheduled for a pretrial hearing on September 17 in Woburn Superior Court.

“We allege that these defendants were delivering drugs and other illegal contraband items to inmates at the Souza-Baranowski facility, a maximum-security prison,” said District Attorney Ryan.  “This alleged scheme—overseen and facilitated by a corrections officer who was sworn to maintain the integrity of the institution—undermined the safety and well-being of every inmate and staffer.   The investigation that led to these serious charges began with reports from alert corrections facility staff and involved various departments within the Department of Corrections, and beyond, working together to stop this dangerous activity.”  

According to authorities, in March 2014, they began to investigate illegal drug use at the facility after an officer detected the odor of marijuana in a housing unit.  That effort allegedly led them to monitor calls by inmate Robert Page, a then-resident of that housing unit.  During those calls, it is alleged that Page spoke in coded language with his mother, co-defendant Sandra Lomastro, about the delivery of illegal narcotics.

On March 24, 2014, investigators set up surveillance on Lomastro’s Fall River residence.  Allegedly, that day they observed her enter the residence with a black bag.  Shortly thereafter, they saw co-defendant Brandon Beach, a Corrections Officer employed at the prison, arrive and then depart the residence carrying what appeared to be the same black bag.  During a subsequent traffic stop, Beach was allegedly found to be in possession of cocaine, heroin, marijuana, alcohol and cigarettes.

A Middlesex Grand Jury returned indictments against these defendants on June 26.

These charges are allegations and the defendants are presumed innocent until proven guilty.   

Beach has been placed on unpaid leave pending the outcome of this case.

The case was investigated by the Massachusetts Department of Corrections Office of Investigative Services and Inner Perimeter Security Unit.

The case is being prosecuted by Assistant District Attorney Christopher Tarrant of the District Attorney’s Special Investigations Unit.