Essex County Man Sentenced For Jail Smuggling Scheme

An Orange resident was sentenced to 53 months in prison on Tuesday for illegally possessing a firearm and conspiring with others to smuggle contraband - including marijuana and tobacco - into a federal detention facility.

According to the U.S. Attorney’s Office (NJ), Muhammad Subpunallah, 34, previously pleaded guilty before U.S. District Judge Katharine S. Hayden to illegal possession of a firearm and conspiring to smuggle contraband into the Essex County Correctional Facility.

According to court documents and statements, on Oct. 11, 2011, Subpunallah had a loaded .38 caliber Cobra firearm in his waistband while standing near Broad and Market streets in Newark.

He had previously been convicted of robbery in Essex County Superior Court.

After Subpunallah was arrested and detained on the illegal possession of a firearm, he engaged in a conspiracy to smuggle contraband into the Essex County Correctional Facility.

According to prosecutors, from September 2013 to February 2014, Subpunallah directed a relative, Vladimir Sauzereseteo, 41, of East Orange, to deliver contraband including marijuana and tobacco to attorney Brian Kapalin, 68, of Maplewood, who then smuggled the contraband into the Essex County Correctional Facility in exchange for a cash fee. Subpunallah then sent inmates to the attorney visitor room to meet with Kapalin and retrieve the contraband.

In January 2014, Subpunallah allegedly spoke with Kapalin over a recorded correctional facility phone. Subpunallah allegedly asked Kapalin to deliver contraband to an inmate at the Essex County Correctional Facility.

According to prosecutors, Sauzereseteo was then paid $1,650 via Western Union money transfers, which he used to purchase marijuana that he delivered to Kapalin, along with a cash payment for Kapalin’s service.

A few days later, Kapalin met the inmate from the Essex County Correctional Facility in the attorney visitor room and delivered the marijuana.

In addition to the prison term, Subpunallah was sentenced to serve three years of supervised release.