A former Alabama jail officer has been indicted on federal charges that he provided an inmate with cigarettes.

Mario Avery, 43, is charged conspiring to provide contraband to an inmate in prison, bribery, and providing contraband to a federal inmate, according to an announcement Tuesday by the Middle District of Alabama U.S. Attorney’s Office and the U.S. Marshals Service.

He was employed at the Montgomery County Detention Center at the time of the alleged crimes.

Avery was arrested Monday and is scheduled to make his first court appearance this afternoon.

According to the indictment, Avery conspired with a federal inmate being held in the Montgomery’s county jail, identified only as “P.D.” as well as a Montgomery resident, identified only as “O.C.”

In November 2022, records state, Avery met with someone in Montgomery to take delivery of the prohibited items – cigarettes- to be smuggled into the Montgomery County Jail to P.D. That same month, he received payment – $1,110 – from an account belonging to O.C. to provide the items to P.D.

The cigarettes were delivered to the inmate that month, authorities said.

The U.S. Marshal’s Service investigated the case, with assistance from the Montgomery County Sheriff’s Office. Assistant U.S. Attorney Eric Counts is prosecuting the case.

If convicted on all three counts of the indictment, Avery faces a maximum sentence of 15 years in prison.