Corrections Officer From Bowie Faces Charges For Smuggling Contraband Items Into Jail

PRINCE GEORGE'S COUNTY, MD — A District of Columbia Department of Corrections Officer from Bowie has been arrested relating to charges that he accepted bribes to bring prohibited items, including weapons and drugs, into the District’s Central Detention Facility.

Johnson Ayuk, 31, has been charged in a criminal complaint filed in the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia with bribery and providing or possessing contraband in prison, both federal offenses. He was arrested at the CDF and made his initial appearance this afternoon before Magistrate Judge Robin M. Meriweather. He was released on high-intensity supervision pending a preliminary hearing set for March 10.

According to court documents, Ayuk has been a Department of Corrections officer since April 2021 and his only assignment has been at CDF where he is responsible for maintaining order and the security of those housed at the facility. In the charging documents, he is accused of taking part in a smuggling operation in which he accepted money from the girlfriend of an inmate to bring illicit materials—including knives, drugs and cellular telephones—into the jail for distribution among inmates.