A Cook County Jail Employee Hid a Phone in Her Underwear and Slipped It Into a Wound Dressing for an Inmate She Admitted She Liked

Dominique Smith-Montgomery 33 a Cermak Health Services employee at Cook County Jail has been charged with a Class 1 felony after investigators found she smuggled a cell phone into the jail by hiding it in her underwear and slipping it inside the gauze covering a wound on an inmate she admitted she liked. Investigators say there were hundreds of phone calls between her number and the inmate before the smuggling was discovered.

A Cook County Jail healthcare employee admitted to hiding a cell phone in her underwear and slipping it inside the gauze covering an inmate’s wound after investigators found hundreds of phone calls between her number and the man in custody and discovered a cell phone and other contraband hidden in his cell.

The Cook County Sheriff’s Department of Investigations and Intelligence received information that Dominique Smith-Montgomery 33 a Cermak Health Services employee may be having an inappropriate relationship with an individual in custody according to the Sheriff’s Office.

Cermak Health Services provides medical and mental health care to individuals at Cook County Jail.

Investigators learned there had been hundreds of phone calls between the individual in custody and Smith-Montgomery’s phone number.

When investigators searched the individual’s cell they recovered a cell phone as well as other contraband.

What She Told Investigators

Smith-Montgomery was taken into custody on July 23. After being issued her Miranda warning she told investigators she hid the phone in her underwear and when she saw the individual in custody slipped the phone inside gauze that was covering a wound he had according to the Sheriff’s Office.

She also admitted she brought the phone in because she liked him.

The Charge

Later that day the Cook County State’s Attorney’s Office charged Smith-Montgomery with bringing contraband into a penal institution a Class 1 felony in Illinois. Class 1 felonies in Illinois carry a potential sentence of four to fifteen years in state prison.

Smith-Montgomery was ordered released from custody on July 24 following her first appearance hearing at the George N. Leighton Criminal Courthouse.

The investigation of the individual in custody is ongoing according to the Sheriff’s Office.