A school aide accused of smuggling heroin to a death row inmate at San Quentin State Prison denied the allegations Thursday and said she wants the prison to investigate how the contraband got through security.
“I did not bring that in,” Teri Orina Nichols said in a brief interview after her arraignment in Marin Superior Court.
Nichols’ position contradicts that of the prison, which said the heroin was inside a large beanie attached to her bra and hidden under her clothes.
The prison said the beanie also contained 18 cellphones, 18 cellphone chargers and two unidentified blue pills.
Nichols, who posted bail after her arrest last month, was arraigned Thursday morning before Judge Kelly Simmons in Marin Superior Court. She pleaded not guilty to a felony charge of bringing heroin into prison and a misdemeanor charge of smuggling cellphones to an inmate.
Her case was assigned to a public defender. She could face up to four years in jail if convicted of the charges, according to the Marin County District Attorney’s Office.
The preliminary hearing is scheduled for Oct. 9.
Nichols, 47, of Bellflower, Los Angeles County, was arrested at the prison on Aug. 25. She was visiting condemned inmate Bruce Millsap, 50, whose crimes include eight murders in Los Angeles, Orange and San Bernardino counties.
According to the prison, Nichols made it through the initial security screen without being flagged for contraband. But when she was in a visiting cell with Millsap, a prison officer noticed plastic bags in a trash can.
Under questioning, Nichols admitted the bags were for smuggled food. Then she revealed the rest of the contraband, the prison said.
The prison is investigating how the contraband got through the screening process, which includes a metal detector.
A prison spokesman, Lt. Samuel Robinson, declined to comment this week on the status of the investigation or whether any employees have been suspended.
“We don’t want to interrupt or influence the continuing investigation and potential prosecution into this issue,” he said.
Nichols is a special education assistant at South East High School in the Los Angeles Unified School District. She was hired in 1996.
The district reassigned her to a nonschool site on Monday after learning of her arrest.
Nichols was listed at the prison as a friend of Millsap.
