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MCSO: Jail health care worker arrested for giving inmate cell phone

Samara Black worked as a discharge planner for the jail's resident healthcare services provider.

CHARLOTTE, N.C. — A health care worker at the Mecklenburg County Jail is facing charges after police said she gave an inmate a cellphone. 

Samara Black, 26, was arrested Monday by Mecklenburg County deputies. Investigators said Black was providing the phone to an inmate while employed with the jail's health care provider. Deputies began investigating Black's conduct after she was accused of smuggling items into the jail. 

Black worked as a discharge planner for Wellpath, the jail's resident health care services provider. North Carolina law prohibits any person from selling or giving a cellphone to an inmate. Black, along with the inmate she's accused of giving the phone to, faces a Class H felony charge. 

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The Mecklenburg County Sheriff's Office did not specify who the inmate was that Black provided the cell phone.

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