Families paid Las Vegas-area prison employee to smuggle in items, phones: officials
LAS VEGAS (KLAS) — Families of inmates incarcerated in a Las Vegas-area prison allegedly paid a correctional officer to smuggle in items, including possible drugs and cell phones, according to documents the 8 News Now Investigators obtained.
Lawayne Harbiman, 37, faces several charges, including bribery of a public officer and knowingly or attempting to furnish a portable telecom device, records said.
On March 1, a confidential informant at the Southern Desert Correctional Center told officials that Harbiman allegedly put cigarettes, lighters, vape pens and tobacco in a mop bucket that inmates would then retrieve, documents said. The prison is located about 40 miles outside of Las Vegas.
Several weeks earlier, another confidential informant had provided officials information that Harbiman allegedly met with inmates’ friends and family at a south Las Vegas valley Walgreens and that the families paid him to bring items into the prison, documents said.
Detectives with the Office of the Inspector General obtained a search warrant for a cash application, finding exchanges with Harbiman “from inmates or peoples [sic] associated with inmates,” documents said. In one case, Harbiman was allegedly sent $2,000 involving an inmate housed at the prison.
Another account sent Harbiman $13,400 over a three-month period, detectives said.
Police arrested Harbiman as he came to work on Tuesday, May 14. During an interview, Harbiman “admitted to receiving monies from people associated with inmates but never from inmates themselves,” documents said.
A search of Harbiman’s home found vape pens, “presumed controlled substances” and several cell phones, which police said were similar to ones located inside the prison. In a subsequent interview, Harbiman reportedly told police “he had met with someone and received the packages and that everything along with the six phones were to be smuggled into [the prison.]”
Officials with the Nevada Department of Corrections initially identified Lawayne Harbiman as Lawayne Hardiman. His official jail and court record listed him Wednesday as Lawayne Harbiman.
The department hired Harbiman in 2020 as a trainee, officials said. He then resigned in February 2022 and was reinstated as a probationary officer in October 2023. The department fired Harbiman on Tuesday.
A booking photo for Harbiman was not immediately available.
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