Former West Virginia correctional officer, Michael Pack, pleaded guilty on Monday to one count of violating 18 U.S.C. § 371.
Pack, a former corrections officer at the Southern Regional Jail in Beaver, West Virginia, was part of a conspiracy that involved using unreasonable force against inmates, including pretrial detainees, as a form of punishment and retaliation.
According to his plea agreement and during the plea hearing, Pack acknowledged that he and his co-conspirators would strike, assault, and harm inmates they believed or perceived to have engaged in misconduct.
As part of this conspiracy, Pack and his co-conspirators would bring inmates to ‘blind spots’ – areas of the jail that were not captured on surveillance cameras – so that they could use unreasonable and unjustified force against the inmates without being recorded and thus avoid being held accountable for their actions.
Pack further admitted that, as part of the conspiracy, he and his co-conspirators would prepare false reports denying their unreasonable uses of force against inmates and failing to document injuries that inmates sustained during use of force incidents, so that the conspirators would not be investigated or held accountable for their actions.
Pack pleaded guilty before U.S. Magistrate Judge Omar J. Aboulhosn. He will be sentenced on July 24 and faces a maximum penalty of five years in prison and a fine of up to $250,000.
The case was prosecuted in partnership with the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of West Virginia by Deputy Chief Christine M. Siscaretti and former Trial Attorney Sam Kuhn of the Civil Rights Division.
Related Federal Cases
- Jeffrey Phares, Grave Marker Swindles, West Virginia 2023 · Virginia
- Robert Thomas, Possession of a Firearm, West Virginia 2023 · Virginia
- Steven Anthony Major, Threatened U.S. Senator, West Virginia 2014 · Virginia
- Mark A. Cowden, Deprivation of Rights Under Color of Law, West Virginia 2015 · Virginia
- David Allen Young, Carjacking, West Virginia 2016 · Virginia
Key Facts
- State: West Virginia
- Category: Violent Crime
- Source: DOJ Press Release â†â€â€
ðŸâ€Â’ Get the grimiest stories delivered weekly. Subscribe free →
MORE FEDERAL CRIME NEWS
Violent CrimeViolent CrimeViolent CrimeViolent Crime