Feb. 9, 2016 Staff Report
A correction officer is facing a number of charges including rape and promoting prison contraband in Rikers Island.
Nicole Bartley, 30, was arrested Saturday after an investigation showed that she had a package of marijuana at her home that she intended to give to an inmate with whom she had sexual relations, according to the Department of Investigations.
Bartley had approximately 70 grams of marijuana inside her home.
Under New York State law, inmates cannot consent to sexual relationships inside the jail.
“This case involving sex for drugs puts on full display the dangers of corruption in our City’s jails and the connection between the drugs, inappropriate relationships and violence that pervade the system,” DOI Commissioner Mark G. Peters said. “This arrest marks the 26th correction staffer DOI has arrested since our intensive operation to root out corruption at Rikers began in 2014.”
Bartley, of the Bronx, has been charged with rape in the third degree, a class E felony. Upon conviction, a class E felony is punishable by up to four years in prison.
She also faces charges of sexual misconduct, official misconduct, promoting prison contraband in the second degree and criminal possession of marijuana in the fourth degree, all class A misdemeanors, as well as attempted promoting prison contraband in the second degree and conspiracy in the sixth degree, a class B misdemeanor.
A class A misdemeanor is punishable by up to a year’s incarceration and a class B misdemeanor is punishable by up to three months in jail.
Bartley has been employed by the Department of Correction since May 2014 and as a probationary correction officer she receives an annual base salary of approximately $39,755.
As a result of this arrest she will be suspended.