Prison Inmate Sentenced for Receiving K2-Laced Paper in Federal Prison

BOSTON - A federal prison inmate was sentenced today in federal court in Worcester for possessing a synthetic cannabinoid, also known as "K2," in FMC Devens.

Raymond Gaines, 46, was sentenced by U.S. District Court Judge Margaret R. Guzman to 18 months in prison, to be followed by one year of supervised release. In December 2025, Gaines pleaded guilty. Gaines was charged by complaint in March 2025, along with former state employee Tasha Hammock, who distributed the K2 to Gaines. Gaines was later indicted with possessing contraband, in the form of K2, as a prison inmate, and Tasha Hammock was charged and pleaded guilty.

On Jan. 25, 2022, Gaines was sentenced to more than seven years in prison after pleading guilty in federal court in Boston to possession with intent to distribute cocaine and possessing a firearm in furtherance of drug trafficking. At the time he committed the offenses, he was on federal judicial supervised release after serving a prison sentence resulting from a 2017 conviction for distributing cocaine base within 1,000 feet of a school. According to court records, in both prior cases Gaines was alleged to be an associate of the Orchard Park Trailblazers, a street gang in Boston. On Jan. 17, 2025, Gaines received an Executive Grant of Clemency, reducing his federal sentence to five years in prison.

On Aug. 18, 2024, Hammock, while visiting Gaines in prison, surreptitiously passed K2-laced papers to Gaines, which he pocketed. At the time, Hammock was employed with the Massachusetts Department of Environmental Protection.

As described in court documents, K2 presents a health problem at FMC Devens, where inmates have become sick from smoking paper believed to contain K2, as well as prison staff who have been exposed to the secondary smoke.

In January 2025, Hammock was sentenced to three years of probation. The government recommended a sentence of 12 months in prison, to be followed by three years of supervised release.

United States Attorney Leah B. Foley and Ted E. Docks, Special Agent in Charge of the Federal Bureau of Investigation, Boston made the announcement today. Assistant U.S. Attorney Brendan O'Shea of the Worcester Branch Office prosecuted the case.