Mother says prison gang lured, then threatened her

A mother of two young children told jurors Wednesday that she was lured into smuggling drugs to imprisoned members of the Aryan Warriors.

When she tried to back out, her life was threatened by the white supremacist gang.

"They said they'd shoot me in front of my kids if I didn't stay in line," Gladys Korff said in federal court.

She also acknowledged her fears that one day she would be caught with the drugs and arrested.

Afraid to quit, Korff obtained methamphetamine and marijuana, stuffed small portions into balloons, hid them in her vagina and went to High Desert State Prison on Oct. 16, 2004. Korff said that day was about the 10th time she had delivered drugs to her boyfriend, inmate Daniel VanDusen.

But that day was different. David Molnar of the state inspector general's office had recorded inmate Jason Inman, an Aryan Warrior who has pleaded guilty to conspiracy charges, discussing a monetary transaction with a female during a telephone conversation. The two discussed a visit that Saturday.

When Korff arrived at the prison, she was interrogated and ultimately searched. She was arrested on charges of smuggling drugs into the prison system. She signed a plea deal agreeing to cooperate with the federal government. Korff was not sentenced to prison or given probation for the crime, which was reduced to a gross misdemeanor, she said.

Six members of the Aryan Warriors face charges related to being a criminal enterprise that sought to take control of the prison system through drug dealing, gambling and brutal assaults on other inmates. They were able to dominate the system in part by bribing guards with cash or drugs so that they would look the other way, according to the indictment.

Korff and VanDusen met as children in Oregon and reconnected in Las Vegas. He reached out to her when he was incarcerated and the two became involved. She soon began receiving three or four phone calls a day from Inman and VanDusen, who was not an Aryan Warrior. The two inmates were constantly trying to arrange for Korff to buy drugs and deliver them to prison, she said.

She said they attempted to speak in code over the phone. "Did you find a dog?," for example, was to inquire whether Korff had found someone from which to buy drugs. "Small dog" meant a half-ounce of drugs. A "big dog" was an ounce, Korff testified.

"He said he'd marry me if I stuck to my guns and did want they wanted me to," Korff said of VanDusen.

Korff said during her visits, VanDusen took the packaged drugs and swallowed them. He later vomited them out in his cell. Korff said she was promised money for delivering the drugs, but only received $300 during the four months she visited VanDusen.

Federal agents escorted Korff to and from the courthouse on Tuesday and Wednesday. Korff said she is not in the government's federal witness protection program.

When members of the Aryan Warriors learned she planned to testify on the government's behalf, she received threatening phone calls.

Asked whether she was scared, Korff quietly answered: "Scared enough that I packed my belongings and left the next day."

Contact reporter Adrienne Packer at apacker@reviewjournal.com or 702-384-8710