A former prison guard and her incarcerated lover, a Black Guerrilla Family gang member, pleaded guilty Monday to extorting thousands of dollars from prisoners and their relatives, often using contraband cell phones to call the victims from jail.
According to their plea agreements, Fonda Deneen White and Jeffrey Fowlkes, both 41, made dozens of threatening calls to an inmate's mother in 2007, "demanding money in exchange for her son's safety." The mother sent 27 payments totaling more than $7,000 before the FBI stepped in.
The agency's investigation revealed that White had deposited into her bank account roughly 180 other prisoner payments beginning in October 2005, shortly after she was fired for having an "inappropriate relationship" with an inmate. She later took up with BGF member Fowlkes, who was serving 30 years for murder and gun charges. Each faces a maximum of five years in prison and a $250,000 fine at their August sentencings.
