Inmate Brags On Facebook, Gets New Charges

ATLANTA, GA — A federal prison inmate in Atlanta could be spending more time behind bars after bragging about having a phone, taking credit for a murder and calling himself a "motivational speaker for gangsters" in a video he appears to have posted to Facebook.

Joe L. Fletcher, 30, of Akron, Ohio, is an inmate at the U.S. Penitentiary in Atlanta. He has been indicted by a federal grand jury on charges of illegally possessing a communication device inside a federal prison, U.S. Justice Department officials announced.

According to federal prosecutors, the 49-minute video shows Fletcher in his prison cell talking on a contraband phone with friends and family members. In it, he brags that he could get a phone in any prison and says he is enjoying his time in the federal lockup, prosecutors say.

(For more news like this, find your local Patch here. If you have an iPhone, click here to get the free Patch iPhone app; download the free Patch Android app here.)

"This inmate was particularly proud of himself when he posted a lengthy interactive video on his Facebook page that showed him talking on a contraband phone from inside his prison cell," said U.S. Attorney Byung J. "BJay" Pak. "He made a further claim that he committed a murder in another state. Prisoners with illegal phones and similar devices inside our prisons pose a serious problem that threatens the safety and security of employees and the public."

In the video, prosecutors say Fletcher — who arrived at USP Atlanta in January on drug trafficking and firearms charges — calls himself "a motivational speaker for gangsters." The murder he references happened in 2010 in Ohio, they say.

The video was posted on Jan. 27. The next day, corrections officers searched his cell and found two concealed cell phones plugged into the ceiling light fixtures, prosecutors say.

"This defendant’s alleged braggadocio potentially will earn him more time in USP Atlanta, which he claims to enjoy," said David J. LeValley, Special Agent in Charge of FBI Atlanta. "The FBI will continue to seek out those inmates and others who smuggle cell phones into a prison environment, because of the harm they cause and the continued criminal activity they afford inmates."

Fletcher has been arraigned on the new charge before U.S. Magistrate Judge Linda T. Walker in Atlanta.

Photo via Shutterstock