By Matthew Russell Lee, Patreon Maxwell Book
BBC - Guardian UK - Honduras - ESPN
SDNY MAG COURT EXCLUSIVE, March 18- In the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York on March 18, a detention or release proceeding was held by Magistrate Judge Robert W. Lehrburger on a former Corrections Officer at the Metropolitan Correctional Center charged with smuggling in a gun to an inmate then lying to the FBI about it.
Inner City Press covers the SDNY Magistrates Court, sometimes alone in the gallery, as it was on March 18. Defendant Greg McKenzie had a retained lawyer - and an agreement to be released on $200,000 bond and travel as a trucker from Maine to West Virginia.
McKenzie's retained lawyer pleaded his client not guilty and wanted to be sure that Pre-Trial Services will not turn down any of these trucking trips. Judge Lehrburger inquired and it appears that they will not.
The assigned District Judge, P. Kevin Castel, has set an April 6 conference. Speedy Trial Act time was excluded on consent. Inner City Press has unloaded the unseal indictment to its DocumentCloud, here
The US Attorney's Office earlier in the day said:
On or about March 5, 2020, a loaded .22 caliber firearm (the “Firearm”) was recovered from inside an MCC prison cell that had last been occupied by two inmates, including “Inmate-1.” Several weeks before the Firearm was recovered, Inmate-1 and his wife had each communicated by phone with a particular cellphone used by MCKENZIE (the “McKenzie Prepaid Cellphone”).
However, when law enforcement agents interviewed MCKENZIE regarding the Firearm investigation, MCKENZIE falsely denied having any connection to the McKenzie Prepaid Cellphone.
Specifically, on January 30, 2020, MCKENZIE purchased the McKenzie Prepaid Cellphone from a store in lower Manhattan, just moments after having withdrawn approximately $120 in cash from a nearby ATM. The next day, MCKENZIE used the McKenzie Prepaid Cellphone to repeatedly exchange calls with Inmate-1 – who was using a contraband cellphone from within the MCC – and Inmate-1’s wife.
Meanwhile, cellphone location information revealed that the McKenzie Prepaid Cellphone frequently traveled between MCKENZIE’s Danbury, Connecticut residence and the MCC on dates and times consistent with MCKENZIE’s work schedule. On the evening of January 31, 2020, MCKENZIE and Inmate-1’s wife each briefly traveled to the same location in the Bronx at the same time, and MCKENZIE thereafter traveled directly to the MCC to begin a shift beginning at midnight on February 1, 2020, whereupon he was assigned to the very unit where Inmate-1 was housed and from where the Firearm was later recovered. Surveillance video and call detail records further established that after beginning his February 1, 2020, shift, MCKENZIE and a colleague conducted a routine check of Inmate-1’s cellblock. Moments later, Inmate-1, using a contraband cellphone, called and then texted the McKenzie Prepaid Cellphone. Within minutes, MCKENZIE briefly returned to Inmate 1’s cellblock – this time alone – while appearing to carry an object under his left arm.
On November 4, 2021, two federal agents conducted a voluntary interview with MCKENZIE. During the interview, MCKENZIE falsely denied ownership, possession, and use of the McKenzie Prepaid Cellphone, and falsely denied ever using any prepaid cellphone to communicate with an MCC inmate or inmate’s associate.
The case is US v. McKenzie, 22- cr-166 (Castel / Lehrburger)
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