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Jail term for former jailer
Published November 14, 2008
A former jailer was sentenced Wednesday to 16 months in federal prison for violating the civil rights of an inmate at the Val Verde County Detention Center and for obstructing the subsequent investigation.
U.S. District Judge Alia Moses Ludlum ordered that Emmanuel Cassio, 20, whose residence address at the time of his arrest was listed as Lot 6, Margo Drive, serve 10 months for the offense of deprivation of rights under color of law and six months for the offense of hindering communication of information relating to federal offense.
Ludlum during the sentencing hearing Wednesday also ordered that Cassio serve the two sentences consecutively, according to a press release issued Thursday by the U.S. Attorney’s Office in San Antonio.
Ludlum also ordered that Cassio be fined $3,000 and be placed on a supervised release period for three yearsafter completing his term in federal prison, the press release noted.
Cassio was employed as a jailer at the Val Verde Cunty Detention Center, which is operated by The GEO Group, a private company, under a contract with Val Verde County, from late April 2006 until he was fired in late November 2006, Val Verde County Detention Center Warden John Campbell told the Del Rio News-Herald in a previous interview.
Cassio pleaded guilty to the two charges on April 30, 2008.
“Cassio admitted that on Oct. 31, 2006, while working as a corrections officer at the Val Verde County Detention Center, he used unreasonable force when he repeatedly punched an inmate without provocation,” the press release from the U.S. Attorney’s Office noted.
“Cassio agreed that his assault violated the inmate’s constitutional right to be free of unreasonable force by law enforcement officers. Additionally, Cassio admitted that he obstructed justice when he provided false information about the incident to investigators,” the press release read.
Val Verde County Sheriff’s Office investigators, who initiated an investigation of the allegations against Cassio at the request of Campbell and Val Verde County Sheriff A. D’Wayne Jernigan, said Cassio walked into a cell and “struck an inmate with his fist.”
“The inmate then made a remark and the jailer returned and hit him again. This incident was witnessed by another jailer who reported it to jail administration. Warden Campbell immediately notified Sheriff Jernigan and requested an investigation,” said VVSO Lt. Larry Pope, head of the sheriff’s office criminal investigations division and who attended Wednesday’s sentencing of Cassio in federal court here.
After the sheriff’s office completed its investigation of the case, it was turned over to the Del Rio office of the FBI and the Department of Justice (DOJ).
The case against Cassio was prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorney Robert Brady and DOJ Civil Rights Division Trial Attorney Jared Fishman, the press release stated.
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