Former Massachusetts state employee charged with smuggling K2 to federal inmate

A former employee with the Massachusetts Department of Environmental Protection has been accused of smuggling K2-laced papers to a federal inmate. Bridgewater woman Tasha Hammock, 43, is being charged with providing contraband to FMC Devens inmate Raymond Gaines, 45 — who had been granted clemency by President Joe Biden in the final days of his term in January. Gaines, whose 2022 federal prison sentence for drug distribution had been cut, has now been indicted by a federal grand jury with possessing contraband by a prison inmate. K2, a synthetic cannabinoid, has been a reported health problem at FMC Devens and other facilities. Inmates have become sick from smoking paper believed to contain K2, as well as prison staff who have been exposed to the secondary smoke. Hammock was a program coordinator with MassDEP, where she took home more than $84,000 in 2023, according to state payroll records. According to the feds, Hammock was visiting Gaines in the prison last Aug. 18 when she “surreptitiously passed K2-laced papers to Gaines, which he pocketed.” Hammock also allegedly previously handled money connected with the distribution of K2 to Gaines in FMC Devens, and she allegedly received K2 at her residence for distribution into the prison. Court records allege that law enforcement obtained a phone that had been smuggled to an inmate in the prison (“Inmate A”). In September 2023, Inmate A allegedly sent messages on the cell phone to another person (“Person 1”), discussing obtaining K2 in prison. Inmate A allegedly told Person 1 that the drugs could be delivered to a particular address in Bridgewater — later determined to be Hammock’s residence — and that Inmate A’s “co” would arrange for the drugs to be brought into the prison from there. Related Articles Boston City Councilors, Secretary of State urge company to resolve trash strike Family demands answers on Haverhill man’s death following ‘struggle’ with police Massachusetts trash strike: Greater Boston leaders say Republic Services is failing Massachusetts Eversource employee helps save horses in massive barn fire: ‘Natural instinct’ Lucas: Call Trump, gov! Taxpayers need a break In 2022, Gaines was sentenced to more than seven years in prison after pleading guilty in federal court in Boston to possession with intent to distribute cocaine and possessing a firearm in furtherance of drug trafficking. At the time he committed the offenses, he was on federal supervised release after serving a prison sentence resulting from a 2017 conviction for distributing cocaine base within 1,000 feet of a school. In both prior cases, Gaines was alleged to be an associate of the Orchard Park Trailblazers, a street gang in Boston. Then on Jan. 17, Gaines received an Executive Grant of Clemency, reducing his current federal sentence to five years in prison.