Affidavit: Man helped sneak contraband via socks, tennis balls into Lincoln prison
LINCOLN, Neb. (KLKN) – A man was arrested Friday after a months-long investigation into a contraband delivery at a Lincoln prison last year.
Kelly McCormack, 31, is being charged on suspicion of intent to deliver a controlled substance and unlawful acts in the Department of Corrections.
An investigation began on Dec. 28, 2023, when a Nebraska State Patrol investigator received a report of contraband at the Reception and Treatment Center.
Earlier that day, corrections staff found two tennis balls covered in duct tape and spray-painted white in the snow, according to an arrest affidavit. Four socks containing contraband were also discovered.
The items were found within the fence on the northwest side of the prison.
The surveillance video showed a person walking toward the fence and making six throwing motions, the affidavit alleges.
A few weeks later, investigators found that one tennis ball contained 14 grams of marijuana and the other had 18.3 grams of marijuana.
The socks contained a charger, two cell phones and an unopened box of Newport cigarettes, according to the affidavit.
An inmate had been communicating with McCormack, using code words to discuss the contraband, the affidavit says.
Investigators later learned that an unknown person dropped off the two phones at McCormack’s home “several months prior.”
Just days before the contraband was found, McCormack went to a Walmart in Lincoln with another man to purchase two phone cards, which were used to activate the phones.
The affidavit alleges McCormack had also acquired the marijuana found in the tennis balls.
On Dec. 28, 2023, McCormack dropped off another man on the northwest side of the prison. That man then threw the contraband over the fence, according to the affidavit.
McCormack picked the man up and dropped him off at the Lincoln bus depot two days later, the affidavit alleges. The man left on a bus to an unknown destination that morning.
An arrest warrant was issued for McCormack on Thursday, and he was taken into custody the next day.
He is scheduled to be arraigned in Lancaster County Court on Friday, according to court records.
