Prisoner Sentenced In Plot To Smuggle Heroin Into Attica Prison

UTICA, NEW YORK - Ramsi Uthman (42), an inmate with the New York State Department of Corrections, was sentenced today to serve 24 months in prison and three years of supervised release in connection with his guilty plea to a one-count indictment charging him with conspiring to smuggle heroin into Attica Correctional Facility, announced United States Attorney Richard S. Hartunian and Shelly Binkowski, Inspector in Charge, United States Postal Inspection Service, Boston Division.

Ramsi Uthman is currently serving a 25-year jail sentence as a the result of his 2003 conviction in Onondaga County Court from an arson he committed at Temple Beth El in Syracuse. At the sentencing hearing today, United States District Judge David N. Hurd ordered 12 months of Mr. Uthman’s federal sentence on the heroin conspiracy conviction to run consecutive to his state prison sentence.

Uthman’s sentence today in Federal Court was in connection with his guilty plea to conspiring with his ex-wife, Twanda Uthman (40), of Liverpool, New York, and Jonathan Lind (29), of New York City, to possess with intent to distribute and to distribution of heroin. Uthman admitted that he arranged for Lind to mail a package containing approximately .948 grams of heroin to Twanda Uthman, which she then planned to smuggle into Attica Correctional Facility during a conjugal visit with Ramsi Uthman. At sentencing, Uthman admitted that he previously received illegal drugs in a similar manner while incarcerated at least 40 or 50 times. Twanda Uthman pled guilty to the one-count indictment and is scheduled to be sentenced in June.

Jonathan Lind is scheduled for trial in April 2016¹.

This case was investigated by the United States Postal Inspection Service and the New York State Department of Corrections and Community Supervision, Office of Special Investigations- Narcotics Unit, with the assistance of the U.S. Drug Enforcement Agency (DEA) and the New York State Police, Community Narcotics Enforcement Team (CNET). It was prosecuted by Assistant United States Attorney Michael F. Perry.

¹ Johnathan Lind is charged by indictment. The charges therein are merely accusations and he is presumed innocent unless and until proven guilty.