EAST ST. LOUIS, Ill. (AP) – A former guard at a federal prison in southern Illinois has been sentenced to 2 1/2 years in a federal lockup for taking thousands of dollars in bribes to smuggle cigarettes to a prisoner.

Twenty-six-year-old Dreaux Perkins of Greenville apologized in court Thursday to his family for the crimes a prosecutor says he carried out to feed a gambling habit.

Perkins pleaded guilty in September to five federal charges linked to his accepting cash and cigarettes from inmate Khalat Alama’s relatives or an intermediary. Perkins admitted then smuggling the smokes into the federal lockup in Greenville.

Perkins acknowledged lying to the FBI when he denied the smuggling and got a $2,000 bribe that he then lost at a casino.

Alama has pleaded guilty and awaits sentencing Jan. 26.

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