WAUPUN, Wis. (AP) — A former employee at a troubled Wisconsin prison has pleaded guilty to smuggling contraband into the maximum-security prison that's been the subject of a federal investigation into alleged smuggling involving employees.
William Lee Homan, 47, of Fox Lake, pleaded guilty in federal court Thursday to a charge of conspiracy to commit bribery concerning programs receiving federal funds, according to court records.
Homan was working as a facilities repair worker at the Waupun Correctional Institution when he smuggled items, including cellphones, tobacco products and controlled substances, into the prison in exchange for money, the Appleton Post-Crescent reported, citing court records.
A message seeking comment was left Friday morning for Homan’s attorney by The Associated Press.
Between July 2022 and September 2023, Homan received 125 payments totaling more than $53,000 from prisoners, former prisoners and “associates” of prisoners, according to the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Eastern District of Wisconsin.
According to court records, people known to prisoners would send money to Homan via Cash App, and Homan would hide the contraband in his pants when arriving to work at the prison about 60 miles (97 kilometers) northeast of Madison.
Homan’s sentencing is scheduled for Dec. 12. The charge carries a maximum sentence of five years in federal prison.
In March, Gov. Tony Evers' office said federal authorities were investigating an apparent smuggling operation involving employees at the prison. At that time, the state Department of Corrections said the probe had resulted in the suspension of nearly a dozen Waupun Correctional Institution employees.
The federal probe came amid a string of deaths at the prison, which is Wisconsin’s oldest maximum-security prison. Five inmates at Waupun have died since June 2023. Two killed themselves, one died of a fentanyl overdose, one died of a stroke, and one died of malnutrition and dehydration.
Prosecutors charged the prison’s former warden, Randall Hepp, and eight other Waupun staff members in June with misconduct in connection with the stroke and malnutrition deaths.
Inmates held at Waupun have filed a class action lawsuit alleging mistreatment, including not having access to health care.
FILE - The Waupun Correctional Institution is seen Wednesday, June 5, 2024, in Waupan, Wis. (AP Photo/Morry Gash, File)
DUBAI, United Arab Emirates (AP) — The European Union's top diplomat warned Tuesday that every day that passes without a cease-fire in the Israel-Hamas war risks the lives of the hostages held by the militants and of those in the Gaza Strip as well as a regional war breaking out.
Josep Borrell, the EU foreign policy chief, came before journalists just after news broke from Lebanon of at least eight people killed and 2,750 others wounded by exploding pagers across the country, including members of the militant group Hezbollah. Suspicion immediately fell on Israel, which earlier Tuesday stressed that halting Hezbollah’s attacks on Israel's north to allow residents to return to their homes was now an official war goal.
Borrell said he would seek more information from Beirut, where he just traveled from, but acknowledged it could escalate the already-boiling tensions in the region.
“Certainly there is the possibility of the war spilling over to Lebanon,” Borrell said.
Borrell, when asked repeatedly about when he hoped a cease-fire could be reached, insisted he couldn't offer a time. Months of indirect negotiations between Israel and Hamas has not seen any major hostage release, while the Gaza Strip has been decimated by an Israeli offensive.
Hamas' Oct. 7 attack on Israel killed 1,200 people and saw 250 others taken hostage. The Israeli military operation has killed over 41,000 Palestinians in the Gaza Strip, according to Gaza's Health Ministry. Meanwhile, Israel has launched repeated, dayslong operations in the West Bank, which the Palestinians also hope will form a part of a future state.
“President Biden announced a plan for a cease-fire. Everybody was expecting it to be agreed and quickly,” Borrell said. “I cannot foresee what can happen in the next days or weeks. The only thing I can say is that all actors involved have to continue pressure on both parties to reach this agreement.”
He added: “The trouble is not a matter of waiting for tomorrow. Tomorrow is already too late.”
Meanwhile, Borrell stressed that attacks by Yemen's Houthi rebels on shipping in the Red Sea also threatened both economies and the environment. He brought up the Greek-flagged oil tanker Sounion, which carries 1 million barrels of oil and has been burning for weeks after a series of Houthi attacks.
An EU naval mission called Operation Aspides just towed the Sounion away from Yemen so salvagers can attempt to offload the crude on board as the vessel remains on fire. Borrell stressed the mission would remain “defensive” and wouldn't attack Houthi positions, even if they come under fire.
The Houthi campaign is “not against Israel, it's against the freedom of navigation and about the economy of Egypt,” Borrell said, referencing the slowdown in traffic through the Suez Canal, a key source of hard currency for Cairo.
“Just before the war in Gaza, the prospect were good for the situation in Yemen,” he added, referring to peace talks to end a yearslong Saudi-led war sparked by the rebels seizing the capital, Sanaa.
“Then everything became stalled. And it is still stalled. This is one the examples of the spillover effect of the war" in Gaza, he said.
European Union foreign policy chief Josep Borrell, listens to a question from a journalist during a press conference in Dubai, United Arab Emirates, Tuesday, Sept. 17, 2024. (AP Photo/Altaf Qadri)
European Union foreign policy chief Josep Borrell, speaks during a press conference in Dubai, United Arab Emirates, Tuesday, Sept. 17, 2024. (AP Photo/Altaf Qadri)
European Union foreign policy chief Josep Borrell speaks during a press conference in Dubai, United Arab Emirates, Tuesday, Sept. 17, 2024. (AP Photo/Altaf Qadri)
European Union foreign policy chief Josep Borrell, speaks during a press conference in Dubai, United Arab Emirates, Tuesday, Sept. 17, 2024. (AP Photo/Altaf Qadri)
European Union foreign policy chief Josep Borrell, speaks during a press conference in Dubai, United Arab Emirates, Tuesday, Sept. 17, 2024. (AP Photo/Altaf Qadri)
