Prim F. Escalona, U.S. Attorney | U.S. Attorney for the Northern District of Alabama
Prim F. Escalona, U.S. Attorney | U.S. Attorney for the Northern District of Alabama
A former corrections officer at the Alabama Department of Corrections (ADOC) has been sentenced to 15 months in prison for accepting bribes, according to an announcement by U.S. Attorney Prim Escalona.
John Paul Ketteman, 28, from Huntsville, received the sentence from U.S. District Judge Liles C. Burke after pleading guilty to receiving a bribe as an agent of an organization that receives federal funds.
According to court documents, Ketteman worked at the Limestone Correctional Facility in Harvest, Alabama. His responsibilities included inspecting prison cells for contraband and supervising inmates. In the fall of 2022, ADOC’s Law Enforcement Services Division launched an investigation into contraband being smuggled into the facility by corrections officers. During the investigation, authorities obtained Cash App records for Ketteman’s account. These records showed that over a period of less than three months in 2022, Ketteman was paid more than $10,000 to smuggle contraband into Limestone Facility and serve as a lookout.
The case was investigated by the FBI and United States Secret Service with assistance from ADOC’s Law Enforcement Services Division. Assistant U.S. Attorney John M. Hundscheid prosecuted the case.
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