Newton County jailer charged with taking bribes, delivering meth to inmates

A Newton County corrections officer has been charged with acceding to corruption by a public servant and delivering a controlled substance at a county jail.

A warrant was issued today for the arrest of Correy L. Shrum (DOB 1991), Joplin, who will be held without bond.

According to the probable cause statement Shrum accepted $1,700 to deliver meth to inmates with the meth being hidden inside chewing tobacco.

On 11/17/2023, Sgt. Barnes of the Newton County Sheriff's Office told me that he had intercepted some suspicious phone calls which led him to believe that contraband was being smuggled into the Newton County Jail at 208 W. Coler Street, Neosho, Newton County, Missouri. 

The calls originated between inmate Offender 6 (OF6) and OF6's girlfriend Offender 5 (OFS). Sgt. Barnes learned of a plan to hide narcotics inside of rolls of chewing tobacco which would be brought into C pod for inmate OF6. 

Sgt. Barnes located six instances on jail cameras where Newton County Corrections Officer Correy Shrum pulled large items from his right cargo pocket and furtively passed the items to inmate Offender 2 (OF2). 

The most recent instance being on 11/17/2023 where Shrum can be seen passing a plastic bag of white substance to inmate OF2. I asked that Corrections Officer Shrum be brought to the interview room. 

During a recorded interview, I read Shrum his Miranda Rights from a form. He said that he understood and had no questions about Miranda. I showed him a screengrab of him passing an item into C Pod. Shrum told me that at different dates he passed 4 rolls of chewing tobacco and two THC pens to inmate OF2 for inmate OF6. 

Shrum told me that OF6's girlfriend, OFS, would pay him via CashApp to pass the items into the jail. Shrum signed a consent to search form for his phone and provided me with the passcode. 

On Shrum·s CashApp, he has accepted approximately $1,700 in U.S. currency since August from OFS. I also read Facebook Messenger messages which detailed when and where the two would meet to exchange items to be passed into the jail for OF6

During my conversation with Shrum, C pod was searched and the inmates were strip searched. 

OF2 was found to have a plastic bag with a very large amount of white crystal substance in his crotch region. 

Inmates Offender 3 (OF3) and Offender 4 (OF4) were found to have plastic bags with what looks like chewing tobacco inside hidden in their buttock regions. The white crystal-like substance was testing using the TruNarc and it tested positive for Methamphetamine.

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