By REUVEN BLAU
Posted: 4:23 am
October 12, 2008
A Rikers Island guard was fired last week on a charge of smuggling a scalpel to an accused killer and reputed gang leader, The Post has learned.
Carlos Merwin, 27, was canned Wednesday, after a jail sting revealed that the dangerous weapon had been funneled to Robert Robertson, a reputed Bloods leader charged with beating John Mateo to death outside a Bronx restaurant in June 2007.
Merwin's firing brings to 10 the number of officers disciplined by the city Correction Department in the past two months for lax security or giving preferential treatment to inmates.
The latest incident occurred at the same Rikers Island maximum-security unit where accused cop killer Lee Woods allegedly got booze, drugs and sex from guards.
Merwin had been on the job for 1½ years and had not completed his two years of probation. He was yanked off a roll-call line by Correction's Inspector General Robert Gigante in a very public and clear anti-corruption message to staff, sources said.
rblau@nypost.com
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