Strip shooting suspect agrees to plea in cell phone smuggling

Ammar Harris, a self-proclaimed pimp charged in a shooting that left three people dead on the Strip, has agreed to plead guilty in a scheme to smuggle cell phones into High Desert State Prison.

Harris, who is in prison after on a conviction for sexual assault and robbery charges, accepted a deal with prosecutors and pleaded guilty Wednesday to bribing a public officer. Fellow inmate Derrick McKnight also agreed to plead guilty to the same charge.

In a separate hearing for another defendant in the case, a Nevada Department of Corrections supervisor testified that Harris wanted the phones to escape from prison.

Harris’ defense lawyer said there was no evidence that Harris was plotting an escape.

“If they thought it was for an escape plot, then they should have charged him with an escape plot,” Robert Langford said. “It’s a crime to attempt to escape from a prison. Stop saying that, unless you’ve got some evidence.”

A former corrections officer at High Desert, Derland Blake, pleaded guilty last month to asking for or receiving a bribe for helping get a pair of cell phones and a charger to Harris.

The Nevada Attorney General’s office has said that cell phones and other contraband were found inside Harris’ prison cell in May.

Harris sent $2,000 to an associate, Amy Colon, who wired the money to Charmain Simmons, the mother of McKnight, authorities said. Simmons slipped the cash to Reann Gadson, who bought two Verizon Wireless phones and handed them off to Olga Gonzalez, state prosecutors said.

Gadson and Gonzalez then met with Blake, who smuggled the phones and other items to the inmates, state investigators said.

After the phones were found in Harris’ cell, he was moved to Ely State Prison, Nevada’s highest security penitentiary. Blake was placed on administrative leave.

At Wednesday’s preliminary hearing for Colon, Department of Corrections investigator David Molnar said Harris sent Colon a check in late April. Then he called Colon on May 2, inquiring about getting a “cool phone.”

Colon faces charges of bribing a public officer, furnishing a portable telecommunication device to a prisoner and conspiracy. Her lawyer, Jeb Bond, said there was no way Colon could know that the money she received would be used to buy a phone that would be smuggled into the prison.

Also on Wednesday, District Judge Kathleen Delaney set a July trial date for Harris in the murder case stemming from the February 2013 shooting on the Strip that left three people dead.

Harris, who faces the death penalty, is charged with shooting reputed pimp Kenneth “Kenny” Clutch Cherry, Jr. as the two drove separate vehicles on the Strip.

Cherry crashed his car into a taxi, which burst into flames, killing the driver, Michael Boldon, and his passenger, Sandra Sutton-Wasmund of Maple Valley, Wash.

Contact reporter David Ferrara at dferrara@reviewjournal.com or 702-380-1039. Find him on Twitter: @randompoker.