Former Rhode Island Correctional Officer Sentenced for Smuggling Contraband into a Federal Detention Center

PROVIDENCE, RI – A now former Donald W. Wyatt Detention Facility correctional officer who smuggled controlled substances into the federal detention center has been sentenced to federal prison to be followed by a term of home confinement, announced United States Attorney Zachary A. Cunha.

According to charging documents and information presented to the court, in mid-February 2021, two inmates housed at the Wyatt Detention Center communicated with a former detainee and another person outside of the facility to arrange to provide a controlled substance to then-correctional officer Kaii Almeida-Falcones, 30, of Smithfield, who smuggled the substances into the facility.

A strip search of a detainee on February 15, 2021, revealed a package containing the drugs smuggled by Almeida-Falcones, which were confirmed to be controlled substances by subsequent lab testing. Additional controlled substances smuggled into the facility were found in the cell of another detainee, concealed inside a pillowcase. Almeida-Falcones is seen on Wyatt Detention security video entering each of the detainees cells the evening before.

Almeida-Falcones was sentenced on November 14, 2024, by U.S. District Court Judge William E. Smith to six months of incarceration in federal prison to be followed by twenty-four months of federal supervised release - the first six months to be served on home confinement. He pleaded guilty on June 10, 2024, to the charge of providing contraband to an inmate.

The case was prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorney Ly T. Chin.

The matter was investigated by the FBI, the United States Marshals Service, the U.S. Department of Justice, Office of Inspector General, and the Professional Standards Unit at the Wyatt Detention Center.

###