GREEN BAY - A former employee of Waupun Correctional Institution pleaded guilty in federal court Thursday to smuggling contraband into the prison.
While working as a facilities repair worker, William Lee Homan, 47, of Fox Lake, smuggled items including cell phones, tobacco products and controlled substances into the prison in exchange for money, according to court records.
Between July 2022 and September 2023, Homan received 125 payments totaling more than $53,000 from prisoners, former prisoners and "associates" of prisoners, according to the U.S. Attorney's Office for the Eastern District of Wisconsin.
According to court records, people known to prisoners would send money to Homan via CashApp, and Homan would hide the contraband in his pants when arriving to work at the prison.
He would then deliver items to prisoners by going to their cells "ostensibly for the purpose of performing a repair," court records say.
Homan pleaded guilty to a charge of conspiracy to commit bribery concerning programs receiving federal funds, which carries a maximum sentence of five years in federal prison. His sentencing is scheduled for 10 a.m. Sept. 12.
The case was investigated by the FBI.
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Waupun Correctional Institution has been the subject of a federal smuggling investigation, which began after an investigation by the Wisconsin Department of Corrections found contraband at the prison, some of which was believed to have come in from staff members. The department announced in March that five employees resigned or were fired since the investigation began, and 11 were placed on administrative leave, some with pay and some without.
The federal probe came in the midst of a string of deaths at Waupun Correctional Institution, at least one of which was from a fentanyl overdose. In a span of about 14 months, six prisoners have died at the maximum-security prison. Authorities have not released information regarding the cause of the two most recent deaths at the prison.
The DOC has not shared the names of other staff members facing charges for bringing contraband into the prison.