Police say a man known for mentoring prison inmates, cut off his ankle monitor and never showed up to plead guilty to drug charges.
Najmuddeen Salaam as expected to plead guilty in court Monday and head to prison for 11 years after allegedly brought durgs into the Marion Correctional Institution, where he worked as a contractor.
But the neighborhood Salaam lived in knew before the weekend he wasn't showing up. Some neighborhood kids made a discovery in the alley behind his house.
Children found the GPS ankle monitor issued to Salaam when he was released on bond. He'd been picked up in Delaware County with 250 grams of cocaine.
“It’s a lot, anything over 100 grams enables you to be a major drug offender,” Marion Police Major Jay McDonald said.
He'd been on the radar of the area's drug task force since a trafficker was picked up a few months earlier in his home.
“We considered him to be a major player in the drug trade,” Major McDonald said.
Which came as a shock, Salaam was known as a rehabilitated inmate who mentored others behind bars.
He had served 18 years in Marion Correctional for rape. He was then hired by the state to help other prisoners and most recently worked through a charitable organization.
Police now believe Salaam used his access to the prisoners to traffic drugs there. They're determined to track him down.
“He will get caught, he can run but he can’t hide, he will get caught,” Major McDonald said.
A warrant was issued Monday for Salaam. Major McDonald says there is a collective effort now by several law enforcement agencies to find him.