Palmer Corrections officer arrested for bribery, promoting contraband

PALMER — A 22-year-old Corrections Officer was arrested Saturday on charges she smuggled various contraband items into the Palmer Correctional Center.

Alaska State Troopers say they conducted a joint investigation with the Department of Corrections into the allegations and arrested Stephanie Cravens, 24.

“With the assistance of the Office of Special Prosecutions and Appeals, a warrant for Cravens arrest and a co-defendant, Michael Freeman, 30, of Anchorage was obtained,” according to a trooper dispatch.

Trooper spokeswoman Megan Peters said that investigators believe Cravens brought a mobile phone and drugs into the prison. She said Freeman was a former inmate there.

Asked how long this had been going on, Peters declined to say .

“We don’t have anything further to provide at this time. Information will be made available through the courts when it becomes public information,” she wrote in an e-mail.

Court documents for the case were also not much help. Indictments for Cravens and Freeman list a single date on which some or all of the conduct leading to the charges occurred — April 4.

Asked if anyone else was involved, Peters also declined to say.

“We cannot provide potential suspect information if a person isn’t charged. We do not provide information on investigations based on potential suspect information either,” she wrote in the e-mail.

Court cases against Cravens and Freeman have been open since May 2 when a grand jury chose to charge them both. Troopers say Cravens and Freeman were arrested on those warrants in Palmer May 3. The first mention of the case in trooper press releases came on Monday.

“We didn’t have them in custody. We typically don’t like to warn someone that we are looking for them to arrest. People do tend to hide from us or not cooperate with us if they know an arrest is imminent,” Peters wrote in explaining the delay.

Cravens and Freeman face charges of bribery, receiving a bribe and promoting contraband.

Cravens’ was held at Mat-Su Pretrial Facility on $2,500 bail and Freeman was held at Mat-Su Pretrial Facility on $10,000 bail.

Prior to this case, Cravens had a spotless criminal history in Alaska, according to court records.

Freeman, however, pleaded no contest in 2004 in Kenai court to a charge of armed robbery.