Department of Corrections nurse arrested while on the run from dealing drugs to inmates

BOSTON – A nurse at the Department of Correction’s Massachusetts Alcohol and Substance Abuse Center (MASAC) in Plymouth, was arrested yesterday and charged with distribution of Suboxone strips to inmates in that facility.

Julie Inglis-Somers, 39, of Kingston, Mass., was arrested yesterday in Jacksonville, Fla., after fleeing the District of Massachusetts last week. She is charged by criminal complaint with one count of distribution of a controlled substance. She will appear for a detention hearing this afternoon in the Middle District of Florida.

According to charging documents, on or about Nov. 18, 2018, and Dec. 4, 2018, Inglis-Somers provided Suboxone to two inmates at MASAC. Suboxone, a Class III controlled substance used to treat heroin addiction, is sometimes misused to get high. Suboxone is a coveted contraband in prisons across the nation and is particularly popular in New England.

MASAC is one of five facilities in Massachusetts where, under Massachusetts General Laws, a state court judge can send a person who the judge has determined to be a danger to self or others due to substance abuse. MASAC is the only such facility overseen by the Massachusetts Department of Corrections.

The charge of distribution of a controlled substance provides for a sentence of no greater than 10 years in prison, three years of supervised release and a fine of $500,000. Sentences are imposed by a federal district court judge based upon the U.S. Sentencing Guidelines and other statutory factors.

United States Attorney Andrew E. Lelling; Harold H. Shaw, Special Agent in Charge of the Federal Bureau of Investigation, Boston Field Division; and Commissioner Thomas A. Turco III of the Massachusetts Department of Correction made the announcement today. The FBI Jacksonville (FL) Field Division and the Suwannee County (FL) Sheriff’s Office provided assistance with the arrest. Assistant U.S. Attorney Eugenia M. Carris of Lelling’s Public Corruption and Special Prosecutions Unit is prosecuting the case.