OCALA, Florida — Weston Burney, 34, of Webster, has been charged by federal indictment with one count of receipt of a bribe by a public official and one count of providing contraband to a federal prisoner, the U.S. Attorney's Office for the Middle District of Florida announced on Friday, October 23.

Source: U.S. Department of Justice, Middle District of Florida

According to the indictment, between February and June 2025, Burney, who was employed by the Federal Bureau of Prisons, allegedly accepted money in return for smuggling contraband into the Coleman Federal Correctional Complex in Sumter County, in violation of his official duties as a correctional officer, The Pasco Signal reported, citing the Justice Department announcement.

Source: The Pasco Signal, Oct. 24, 2026

Prosecutors allege that during that period Burney provided contraband — namely tobacco and MDMB-4en-PINACA, a Schedule I controlled substance — to an inmate at the federal prison in return for monetary payments.

If convicted, Burney faces a maximum penalty of 15 years in federal prison on the bribery offence and up to 10 years on the contraband offence, the Justice Department said. The indictment also notifies him that the United States intends to seek forfeiture of any property that constitutes or is derived from proceeds traceable to the alleged offences. Those are maximum penalties set by law, not a sentence that has been imposed.

The case is being investigated by the Department of Justice Office of the Inspector General and the Federal Bureau of Prisons, and will be prosecuted by Assistant United States Attorney Angela Moon Palacios. U.S. Attorney Gregory W. Kehoe made the announcement.

An indictment is merely a formal charge that a defendant has committed one or more violations of federal criminal law, and every defendant is presumed innocent unless and until proven guilty, the Justice Department noted.