Supermax prison guard accused of stealing stun grenades - The Denver Post

Supermax prison guard accused of stealing stun grenades - The Denver Post

A member of an elite unit of guards at the Supermax federal prison has been indicted on allegations that he stole specialty items from the prison armory and sold them on the black market.

Chris Turner — a member of Supermax's Special Operations Response Team (SORT) — could face up to 10 years in prison if convicted of the most serious of the four charges in the indictment. A friend of Turner's, William Warren, also is charged in the indictment.

The stolen items are known as "flash-bang" grenades. They are used by law enforcement officers in SWAT-style raids to distract suspects because, when detonated, they produce a disorienting burst of light and a loud noise. Supermax SORT members use them in dealing with violent inmate disruptions.

The indictment alleges that Turner, 29, took numerous flash-bangs out of the prison armory between August 2009 and December 2010. It also alleges that Turner and Warren, 35, then sold the explosives, valued at more than $1,000 combined, in June or July 2010.

"A trusted member of the Bureau of Prison's elite Special Operations Response Team has violated the public trust by stealing these destructive devices," U.S. Attorney for Colorado John Walsh said in a statement. "These devices help keep correctional officers and the prison population safe, and their theft potentially weakened that mission."

Supermax, officially known in the Bureau of Prisons as the Administrative Maximum facility, is in the town of Florence, west of Pueblo, and is home to many of the federal government's most notorious prisoners, including Unabomber Ted Kaczynski, Oklahoma City bombing conspirator Terry Nichols and several other convicted terrorists.