KERRVILLE, Texas – A Kerr County corrections officer has been arrested on charges that he smuggled contraband into the Kerr County Jail.
Carl Birdwell, 22, was taken into custody Sunday and now faces organized crime charges.
"He hurt this department, he hurt every employee in this department, and I hope he gets the full extent of the law because I will not tolerate a crooked employee," said Kerr County Sheriff Rusty Hierholzer.
The investigation began last December when jail administration noticed suspicious activity inside and outside the jail and in the inmates' commissary accounts.
"Sometimes he was in direct contact with them. Sometimes the inmate, through phone calls, would have their family member contact him on the outside," Hierholzer said.
Hierholzer said the operation started small, with Birdwell (pictured) allegedly smuggling tobacco and alcohol to two inmates. It then grew to include more contraband.
"Snuff, some pills, he got a cellphone to one (inmate) for a little bit and took it back out," Hierholzer said.
A two-week investigation landed the case before a grand jury, which indicted 11 people for their alleged role in the scheme.
"We listened to hundreds and hundreds of hours of inmate phone calls and got cellphone records. What I wanted to make sure we did was we got every player involved. If there was going to be another jailer, I wanted it known. If there were other inmates, other family members, we wanted it known."
So far, only Birdwell and five other people have been arrested. They include: Anthony Cantu, 28; Lisa Edwards, 43; Eric John Sanchez, 28; Kayla Menchaca, 19; and Salvador Ybarra, 30.
Hierholzer said he is not interested in why Birdwell would do what he's accused of, he's more concerned about making sure it doesn't happen again.
"I can assure the residents -- and I think most of them know me, I grew up here and graduated high school here -- I am not going to tolerate this type of stuff inside this department," he said. "I never have. I never will."