NEW BOSTON, Texas–Bribery and contraband-related charges have been added to child pornography possession ones facing a former Barry Telford Unit corrections officer being held on more than $500,000 in bail in Bowie County.
Ki-Jona Hayvin Wells, 25, of Idabel, Oklahoma, is accused of accepting money, including through a digital cash transferring application, from inmates of the Texas Department of Criminal Justice in exchange for alcohol and a sim card for a cell phone, according to a probable cause affidavit. He’s also alleged to have possessed child pornography on a cell phone searched in an investigation launched earlier this year by the Texas Office of the Inspector General.
OIG investigators at Telford allegedly discovered evidence on a phone confiscated as contraband from a prison cell which led them to Wells. They searched his gray 2012 F-150 early on the morning of Sept. 14 while parked at the prison and seized an iPhone from inside, the affidavit said.
A forensic examination of the device allegedly revealed four videos depicting the sexual exploitation of children under the age of 8 by adult men and a woman. Wells was arrested Nov. 9 on four counts of possession of child pornography.
Two counts of bribery and two counts of prohibited substance or item in a correctional facility were added on Monday, court records show. Those offenses allegedly occurred in May and August, according to the affidavit.
Wells is currently being held in the Bowie County jail with bonds totaling $550,000.
