Metro

A former inmate at the Cambria County Prison was sentenced in federal court to 24 months in prison, to be followed by three years of supervised release, on his conviction of conducting and participating in the affairs of an enterprise through racketeering activity.

Mikal Davis, 48, is among 10 individuals charged through an indictment unsealed in July 2025 with racketeering charges related to the Cambria County Prison.

U.S. District Judge Stephanie L. Haines imposed the sentence on Davis, who was previously sentenced in July 2025 to 180 months in prison, to be followed by five years of supervised release, on his conviction for conspiracy to distribute and possess with intent to distribute one kilogram or more of a mixture of heroin, five kilograms or more of a mixture of cocaine, 400 grams or more of a mixture of fentanyl, 50 grams or more of methamphetamine, 500 grams or more of a mixture of methamphetamine and 28 grams or more of a mixture of cocaine base. Haines ordered Davis’ news sentence to be served consecutively to the sentence imposed for the 2025 conviction.

To date, four of the 10 defendants in the case have pleaded guilty, with Davis the first to be sentenced.

In addition to Davis, others named in the indictment were: Lakesha Stith of Johnstown; Ashley Aguilar of Phoenix, Ariz.; James Johnson-Ross of Altoona; Marcos Monarrez Jr. incarcerated at FDC Philadelphia; Jessica Niebauer of Altoona; Monique Valencia of Phoenix, Ariz.; Blake Young incarcerated at SCI Laurel Highlands; Asiah Young-Atwell of Johnstown; and Carlos Zamora incarcerated at Northeast Ohio Correctional Center.

According to information presented to the court, from July 2023 to December 2023, while incarcerated at the Cambria County Prison, Davis conducted and participated in the affairs of an enterprise through racketeering activity. Specifically, Davis bribed correctional officers and medical staff to smuggle contraband into the prison, namely Suboxone, which was then sold to other inmates for a substantial profit. Davis directed the bribe payments and accepted payments of drug proceeds to further facilitate the racketeering activity.

The indictment alleges that Stith and Young-Atwell, who were employed as a correctional officer and medical staff nurse, respectively, at the facility, received bribes from inmate defendants Davis, Johnson-Ross, Monarrez, Young and Zamora in exchange for bringing contraband — including controlled substances such as K2 (a Schedule 1 synthetic cannabinoid), Tetrahydrocannabinol (a Schedule 1 component in cannabis) and Suboxone, cellular phones, security tools and cigarettes — into the prison.

Stith and Young-Atwell allegedly hid the contraband in lunch bags and containers in order to smuggle it through the prison’s screening system and then delivered the contraband items to various locations throughout the prison. These locations included the prison’s medical department, which contained private examination rooms without security cameras; numerous pre-arranged stash locations such as storage closets where inmates could later retrieve the hidden items; and the cells and housing units of inmate defendants, with some of whom Stith and Young-Atwell had engaged in personal/intimate relations and warned of planned cell searches as well as other inmates providing information to the prison administration regarding the contraband activity.

The inmate defendants used the contraband phones to coordinate smuggling and contraband trafficking with Stith, Young-Atwell and individuals outside of the prison (including Aguilar, Niebauer and Valencia, each of whom are charged in a separate count of conspiracy to commit money laundering in relation to the racketeering activity) who facilitated their contraband trafficking activities. The inmates and co-conspirators also sold these phones and other contraband items to other inmates at substantial profit, with an average price of $10,000 for cellphones and from $75 up to $250 for Suboxone strips, according to the indictment.