CLEARFIELD, Pa. — A former employee of the State Correctional Institution at Houtzdale pleaded guilty Tuesday to smuggling contraband into the facility.
President Judge Paul E. Cherry sentenced Jared Scott Tran Bakaysa, 28, of Clearfield, to two years’ probation for one felony count of criminal use of a communication facility and a misdemeanor count of possession of a controlled substance.
The charges stem from incidents between February and June 2025. A K9 unit exposed the scheme during a routine staff check.
According to the affidavit of probable cause, Bakaysa arrived for work as an activities specialist on June 25, 2025. Security officers were using a K9 from the Drug Interdiction Unit to conduct an “air scan” of the staff. An air scan is an intentional K9 sniff of a person to detect odors related to controlled substances.
The K9 unit alerted officers to Bakaysa’s crotch area. Though Bakaysa initially denied having contraband, he later admitted to investigators that he had a package concealed inside his pants. He removed the bundle, which contained plastic wrap and films of buprenorphine, commonly known by the brand name Suboxone.
During an interview, Bakaysa told investigators an inmate approached him in early 2025 about bringing drugs into the prison. Bakaysa set up a P.O. box to receive parcels and created an Apple Pay account to collect payments.
Bakaysa stated he was “selfish” and participated in the scheme to help pay his bills “quicker and easier.”
Bakaysa admitted to smuggling contraband for the inmate three or four times. Investigators say he received $6,705 via Apple Pay prior to his arrest. In total, he received five parcels at his P.O. box, all sent from the Philadelphia area by suspected associates of the inmate.
Bakaysa told investigators he would hand the parcels to the inmate inside the activities department “when the opportunity presented itself.” He provided text messages showing postal tracking numbers and proof of payment.
The final package Bakaysa attempted to bring into the facility contained 183 films of Suboxone, according to the report.
