A multi-month drug smuggling scheme that ended with a $6,600 payday for one Lompoc couple could cost them a combined 10 years in federal prison.
On Aug. 5, former correctional officer Paul Betancourt and his wife, Sylvia Betancourt, each pled guilty to periodically sneaking contraband into Federal Correction Complex (FCC) Lompoc over the course of about four months and selling that contraband to an inmate.
Each faces a maximum prison sentence of five years, to be determined at their sentencing hearings scheduled for Jan. 27, 2027. U.S. District Judge Ann Hwang will preside over both hearings.
According to court documents, the Betancourts smuggled contraband into FCC Lompoc on at least a dozen occasions between May and September 2023. Paul had worked at the prison since 2012.
“[Paul] had been bringing contrabanded items, such as vape pens, Suboxone, and K2 into FCC Lompoc,” Department of Justice (DOJ) Special Agent Andrew Howard wrote in an affidavit. “[He] usually brought the items on Wednesdays when he came to work.”
Suboxone is a brand-name medication usually prescribed by doctors to treat opioid use disorder, while K2 is also known as “spice,” a synthetic drug designed to mimic THC.
As part of its investigation, the DOJ obtained financial records—including transactions through Cash App—that established a relationship between Paul and the inmate who he delivered drugs to.
The investigation revealed that the inmate’s sister transferred a $6,650 over the course of 14 individual payments to a Cash App account associated with Paul’s wife, Sylvia.
The DOJ also reviewed records tied to phone calls the inmate made to his family members, frequently instructing them “to contact or send money to a Cash App account associated with Sylvia Betancourt,” Special Agent Howard stated.
According to court docs, on some occasions Sylvia met with “intermediaries” on behalf of the inmate to receive packages in person that contained the contraband that Paul smuggled into the prison.
In September 2023, FCC Lompoc camera footage showed the inmate, empty-handed, walk into Paul’s unit office one morning around 6 a.m. After interacting with Paul, the inmate exited the office with “what appeared to be several sheets of paper,” court docs summarized.
Shortly afterwards, another correctional officer asked the inmate why he visited Paul’s office. After the inmate refused to answer, he was placed in a holding cell and searched. Officers found an envelope carrying two sheets of paper, “which appeared to have been soaked in an unknown substance.”
Prison officials used a narcotics identification test kit that indicated the presence of opium alkaloids, later confirmed to be Suboxone. A subsequent search of the inmate’s cell led to the discovery of more sheets of paper soaked with Suboxone “hidden in a slit cut into his mattress,” Howard wrote.
Jennifer L. Waier, chief assistant U.S. Attorney, Criminal Division, described Paul’s crimes as a complete betrayal of his responsibilities as a correctional officer at FCC Lompoc, where he worked for more than a decade.
“It was a federal crime and a fireable offense,” Waier wrote in court docs. “Illegal activities on the part of any DOJ employee, in addition to being unlawful, reflected on the integrity of the [Federal Bureau of Prisons] and betrayed the trust and confidence placed in it by the public.”
This article appears in August 13 – August 20, 2026.
