HIALEAH GARDENS, Fla. – A joint undercover operation resulted in the arrest on Monday of a correctional officer who investigators accused of soliciting murder and moving contraband — including a gun and cocaine.
Confidential informants alerted authorities about Jose Alcazar, an officer at the South Bay Correctional Facility, a private state prison with a capacity for about 1,950 men in Palm Beach County.
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Officers reported they arrested Alcazar, 49, in Miami-Dade County after meetings in Hialeah Gardens with an undercover officer who was pretending to be an inmate’s nephew.
“I am doing this for my wife and my family,” Alcazar said during a meeting, according to the arrest report.
Alcazar allegedly said that he could have an inmate moved to another facility for $10,000. The undercover officer allegedly paid $1,200 to deliver two SIM cards, $400 to deliver 7.8 grams of cocaine, and a $1,200 down payment for the move.
Alcazar also allegedly asked the undercover officer to commit murder.
“You observe him and analyze him if you think it is better for him to get whacked to leave all of us in peace,” Alcazar said, according to the arrest form.
Officers reported seizing a Smith & Wesson Bodyguard 380 semi-automatic pistol with a magazine with six live rounds, another pistol with one live round, and recovering the $1900 in cash the undercover officer had just given him, according to the complaint.
Miami-Dade corrections officers booked Alcazar at about 6:40 p.m., Monday, at the Turner Guilford Knight Correctional Center, where he remained on Tuesday.
Alcazar is facing charges of solicitation of murder for hire, the introduction of a portable communication device to prison, introduction of a firearm to prison, two counts of compensation for unlawful official behavior, cocaine possession with a firearm, marijuana possession with the intent to sell, and criminal solicitation.
Local 10 News Assignment Desk Editor Allison Cubillos contributed to this report.