Three former correctional officers from the United States Penitentiary at Hazleton have pled guilty for their roles in the March 2019 assault of a prisoner and the cover up that followed, United States Attorney William Ihlenfeld announced Monday.
According to court documents, 42-year-old Robert David Sims of Bruceton Mills repeatedly struck the inmate, identified as B.C., in the face, head, arms and torso during a strip search, causing significant injuries. Sims pled guilty to assault resulting in serious bodily injury and faces up to 10 years in federal prison.
The documents also show Joshua David Sines, 39, of Friendsville, Maryland, admitted to falsifying reports on the incident to protect himself and Sims. He faces up to five years in federal prison.
Josiah Dandue Redd, 36, of Morgantown, pled guilty to making a false statement to a federal agent and accessory after the fact to an assault. According to the indictment, Redd told an investigator he saw the inmate strike one of the officers with a closed fist and heard the officer saying the man was biting him.
Redd faces up to five years and six months in prison.
“We expect Correctional Officers to conduct themselves with integrity and to foster safe and humane conditions of confinement for inmates. Instead, Sims violently assaulted an inmate and Sines and Redd conspired to cover it up in an attempt to avoid punishment,” said Timothy C. Edmiston, Special Agent in Charge of the U.S. Department of Justice Office of the Inspector General Mid-Atlantic Region. “These acts will not be tolerated. Perpetrators of assault and those who make false statements to cover it up will be brought to justice.”
Sims, Sines, and Redd have agreed to resign their positions with the Bureau of Prisons and to not seek or obtain employment in the future with the U.S. Department of Justice, Bureau of Prisons, or any private prison or community corrections center that contracts to house federal prisoners.
The U.S. Attorney’s Office is seeking information from anyone who may have witnessed or been a victim of physical assault while incarcerated at FCC Hazelton. Any witness or victim to any such crimes or attempts to conceal such crimes are asked to directly contact federal prosecutors in the Northern District of West Virginia by calling 1-855-WVA-FEDS or by sending an email to wvafeds@usdoj.gov.