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Read the press release here.

Police Dispatcher Gets 3+ Years For Helping In Jail Smuggling Scheme

 Stephanie Lewis, 42, pleaded guilty to conspiracy to commit extortion.
Stephanie Lewis, 42, pleaded guilty to conspiracy to commit extortion.
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Flickr/Zol87

LITTLE VILLAGE — A former police dispatcher was sentenced Wednesday to more than three years in jail for helping her inmate boyfriend smuggle tobacco into Cook County Jail by tracking down the home address of a jail guard and threatening him if he didn't help.

Stephanie Lewis, 43, pled guilty in January to one count of conspiracy to commit extortion and was sentenced Wednesday to 41 months in prison by U.S. District Judge Charles R. Norgle.

Lewis was working as a dispatch supervisor for the city's Office of Emergency Management Communications in 2013 when she used a city database to find a guard's name and street address based on his license plate, according to a statement from the U.S. Attorney's Office for the Northern District of Illinois.

As part of her guilty plea, Lewis said that she knew the information she provided would be used to threaten the officer with physical harm unless he smuggled contraband into the jail.

Former Cook County Jail Corrections Officer Jason Marek admitted delivering marijuana, tobacco and alcohol to a jail inmate after tucking it into sandwiches and sneaking it past security in May or June 2013 as part of the scheme. Marek is awaiting sentencing, officials said.

Prince Johnson, Lewis’ boyfriend, has pleaded not guilty in connection to charges stemming from this case and is awaiting trial along with another defendant in the case.