A female jailer who smuggled hacksaw blades in a botched attempt to help three federal prisoners escape drew a sentence Monday that means she could serve nine years in prison.
Keri Ann Brandt, 21, was sentenced to four years on federal charges involving an escape prosecutors say was hours from succeeding. That sentence is to begin after she serves a five-year state sentence.
Brandt was one of two female jailers who took part in the thwarted escape, which unraveled Sept. 8 in a routine search at the North Central Correctional and Rehabilitation Center in Rugby, N.D., a state facility.
One of the three federal prisoners she tried to help escape was Gabriel Martinez, who pleaded guilty to the murder of a drug dealer in the Operation Speed Racer ring and awaits sentencing.
"I know I can't go back and change what I did, but I want a second chance," a teary Brandt told U.S. District Judge Ralph Erickson before he handed down the sentence. "I want to be able to raise my son and teach him right from wrong."
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Chris Myers, assistant U.S. attorney, and the defense had agreed to a five-year sentence for the federal charges.
"This is a case that is as serious as it can get with respect to the jail," he said.
Brandt, who prosecutors said had become friendly with prisoners she tried to help escape, could have faced more than 30 years in prison for five federal felony charges, including conspiracy and obstruction of justice.
"It's an appropriate sentence," U.S. Attorney Drew Wrigley said after the hearing. "It's appropriately long."
Brandt betrayed her duty as a corrections officer, he said, and was willing to expose the public to the risk of having an admitted murderer at large.
"She was wearing a uniform in this case," Wrigley said. "She was charged with protecting the public. In fact, she endangered the public."
Co-defendant Becky Starr Willison, also a female jailer at the Rugby corrections center, awaits sentencing May 16.
Readers can reach Forum reporter Patrick Springer at (701) 241-5522
