Cook County Jail Guard Accused of Smuggling Pot in Sandwiches

Jason Marek, 29, allegedly smuggled "Jim Shoe" sandwiches to inmates

He went by the street name “Murda,” the feds say.

If so, it wasn’t a good look for a Cook County Jail guard.

But Jason Marek, 29, was allegedly living a double life — using his day job to smuggle sandwiches stuffed with marijuana into the county jail.

A federal complaint unsealed Tuesday alleges he teamed up with three inmates, including one, Lavangelist Powell, who was awaiting trial for solicitation of murder, to smuggle the weed.

The plan allegedly called for “Jim Shoe” sandwiches — a classic mutli-ethnic Chicago sub stuffed with corned beef, Italian beef and gyro meat — hollowed out so that baggies of marijuana could be hidden inside.

Marek was arrested early Tuesday morning and, wearing a brown hoodie and military-style boots, made a brief appearance before U.S. Magistrate Judge Jeffrey T. Gilbert in court alongside three co-defendants Tuesday lunchtime.

The complaint says he was stopped carrying two sandwiches stuffed with nearly three ounces of marijuana, plus a bag full of contraband cigarettes in June last year. He took a $200 bribe to make the delivery, it’s alleged.

According to the charges, an ounce of marijuana, which sells for approximately $200 outside the jail, could be sold for five times as much, or $1,000, inside the jail.

Powell and fellow inmates Thadieus Good and Price Johnsons had pre-sold the expected delivery to other inmates and were upset when Marek did not deliver it, it’s alleged. Good’s wife Pearlisa “Wang Wang” Stevenson had made the sandwiches and delivered them to Marek for smuggling, it’s alleged.

With the help of Powell’s girlfriend, Natosha McCollum, Powell, Good and Johnson allegedly recruited Johnson’s girlfriend, Stephanie Lewis, 40, to use her job as a supervisor at Chicago’s Office of Emergency Management and Communications to run Marek’s license plates and find out where he lived, so that they could threaten him to deliver more contraband.

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Johnson was allegedly recorded in a jail phone call saying, “N—–, just so long as I got my sandwich, you know I don’t care.”

Lewis was arrested Monday night and charged with one count of illegally accessing a law enforcement computer to assist the alleged extortion and drug distribution conspiracy.

Cook County Sheriff Thomas J. Dart initially called a news conference to discuss the arrests Tuesday afternoon, but later cancelled it. He issued a brief statement, saying, “Rooting out corruption in the Cook County Jail is a top priority of mine.

“I’m thankful to our federal partners at the FBI and the U.S. Attorney’s Office for working closely with my staff to conduct such a thorough investigation and to charge this far-reaching case.”

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