Former Bonne Terre Prison Worker Pleads Guilty to Smuggling Drugs, Weapons Into Facility

St. Louis Co., Mo. (KFMO) - A former employee of the Eastern Reception Diagnostic and Correctional Center in Bonne Terre has pleaded guilty in federal court to smuggling drugs and weapons into the Missouri state prison.

53-year-old Steven M. Reminger admitted Wednesday in U.S. District Court in St. Louis to one count of conspiracy to distribute and possess with intent to distribute controlled substances, and one count of attempting to possess with intent to distribute controlled substances.

Reminger, who worked as an electronics technician at the facility, came under investigation following a string of inmate drug overdoses. Inmates reported to authorities that Reminger had been the source of illicit drugs entering the prison. One inmate told a Missouri Department of Corrections investigator that Reminger had drugs sent to a Post Office box in Farmington under a fake name.

A U.S. Postal Inspection Service investigation found that Reminger had opened the P.O. box on November 8, 2021, and had received about a dozen packages between then and May 24, 2022. Inspectors intercepted the final package the next day after Reminger picked it up, leading to his detainment and questioning at a police station.

Inside the package, investigators discovered $4,000 in cash and four vacuum-sealed bags containing fentanyl, methamphetamine, heroin, synthetic marijuana (K2), THC edibles, marijuana, knives, and cell phones. Reminger told investigators he was paid $4,000 per delivery and admitted to earning as much as $50,000 from the smuggling scheme. He surrendered $15,000 in cash from his home and revealed he used some of the proceeds to buy a dune buggy and two trailers.

Reminger acknowledged the possibility that the packages he smuggled into the prison contributed to the overdoses but claimed he never opened them or inquired about their contents, telling investigators, “ignorance is bliss.”

He is scheduled for sentencing on July 24. Each charge carries a potential sentence of up to 20 years in prison, a $1 million fine, or both.