Department of Corrections Nurse Pleads Guilty to Drug Charges

BOSTON – A nurse at the Department of Correction’s Massachusetts Alcohol and Substance Abuse Center (MASAC) in Plymouth pleaded guilty today in federal court in Boston to distributing Suboxone pills to inmates in that facility.

Julie Inglis-Somers, 39, of Kingston, Mass., pleaded guilty to distribution of a controlled substance. U.S. District Court Judge Indira Talwani scheduled sentencing for Oct. 24, 2019. In December 2018, Inglis-Somers was charged by criminal complaint and arrested in Jacksonville, Fla. after fleeing the District of Massachusetts. She was indicted in January 2019.

On or about Nov. 18, 2018, and Dec. 4, 2018, Inglis-Somers provided Suboxone strips and pills 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 themselves or to 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; Joseph R. Bonavolonta, Special Agent in Charge of the Federal Bureau of Investigation, Boston Field Division; and Commissioner Carol Mici 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.