Correctional officer charged with smuggling drugs into jail

A correctional officer at Baltimore Central Booking has been charged with smuggling drugs and other contraband into the jail.

Investigators with the Maryland Department of Public Safety and Correctional Services arrested Sunhild Priedt on Feb. 26.

Priedt, 55, is charged with drug possession with the intent to distribute, possession of contraband with intent to deliver it to detainees and delivering contraband to detainees. Online court records show she is being held without bond.

Her attorney, Roland Brown, did not respond to a request for comment about the allegations.

Investigators say a dietary supervisor at the jail saw Priedt, who was working overtime from 4 a.m. to noon Feb. 25, holding a brown paper bag underneath her sweater. The supervisor, a lieutenant, told investigators they saw Priedt place the paper bag in a trash can and walk away, according to charging documents.

The supervisor allegedly retrieved the bag from the bin, took it to a captain’s office and opened the bag, revealing drugs and other items that are not allowed in jails.

Officials confiscated from Priedt almost 200 strips of buprenorphine, a prescription opioid commonly used to treat opioid addiction, 55 grams of marijuana and 104 grams of loose tobacco.

In a statement, a spokesperson for the state corrections agency denounced Priedt’s conduct while touting the actions of the officers who reported her.

“The Department’s dedicated public safety professionals are endangered anytime anyone attempts to introduce contraband, because contraband fuels violence,” the spokesperson said. “In this case, the alert actions of other employees led to the arrest.”

The spokesperson declined to answer questions about the case, citing a pending investigation.

Investigators wrote that they took Priedt’s keys and searched the car she drove to work, a Toyota Camry, which was parked on state property.

According to charging documents, they found the following throughout the car:

Letters that investigators say they believed to have been authored by inmates.

A pack of disposable finger cots — finger covers usually made of latex — which prison officials say are used to hide contraband. Bundles of Newport cigarettes. Cigarette rolling papers.

Two iPhones.

The drugs, tobacco and other items not allowed in jail sell for much more in the facility than on the street or in a store, according to charging documents.

Listed as a Correctional Officer II, Priedt made $164,000, much of it overtime pay, in fiscal year 2022, according to state salary records.