A former King County jail guard has pleaded guilty to taking bribes and smuggling drugs into the slammer, federal prosecutors said Thursday. Mosses Ramos, 40, admitted to his role in a conspiracy pumping methamphetamine and fentanyl pills into the hands of inmates at the Seattle correctional facility where he worked for 17 years before being fired last year, as the U.S. Attorney's Office announced.
Caught red-handed between March and May 2023, after accepting bribes, Ramos agreed to deliver roughly one pound of meth and around 100 fentanyl pills to inmates. Among those cashing in on Ramos's criminal ventures, were two current King County jailbirds: Michael Anthony Barquet and Francisco Montero, who awaits trial for a suspected double murder. Ramos now faces up to two decades behind bars, with U.S. District Judge Ricardo S. Martinez set to drop the hammer on September 13.
The drug trade didn't stop at the jailhouse door, extending to include three women with ties to Barquet and Montero. Neca Silvestre, Katrina Cazares, and Kayara Zepeda Montero stand charges in the racket, still maintaining their innocence in the face of pending litigation. Bribery could net up to 10 years in prison, while the drug charges carry a potential 20-year sentence.
Ramos, having cut a deal with the feds, is the lone guilty party so far. "While Ramos has accepted responsibility and pleaded guilty, the other defendants in this case have not and are presumed innocent unless and until he or she is proven guilty beyond a reasonable doubt in a court of law," the U.S. Attorney's Office cautioned. The Federal Bureau of Investigation, alongside the King County Sheriff's Office, were the lead hounds on the scent of this corruption, with King County Prosecutors assisting on the legal front.
Assistant United States Attorneys Cindy Chang and Vince Lombardi shoulder the burden of prosecuting this case, which has shed a harsh light on the vulnerabilities and illegal activities festering within the corrections system. Until their respective days in court, the accused co-conspirators stand alongside the disgraced former guard in a legal limbo, under the shadow of an uncertain future.
