OHIO COUNTY SHERIFF’S OFFICE EMPLOYEE PLEADS GUILTY TO ASSAULTING DETAINEE

The following press release was published by the US Department of Justice on April 26, 2004. It is reproduced in full below.

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE MONDAY, APRIL 26, 2004 WWW.USDOJ.GOV CRT (202) 514-2008 TDD (202) 514-1888 WASHINGTON, D.C. - The Justice Department announced that an employee of the Mahoning County Sheriff’s Office in Ohio pleaded guilty today to assaulting a detainee at the Mahoning County Jail in December 2001.

Ronald Kaschak, a former deputy sheriff with the Mahoning County Sheriff’s Office, pleaded guilty in the United States District Court for the Northern District of Ohio to a complaint charging him with one count of violating federal civil rights laws. Kaschak admitted that he and other corrections officers beat detainee Tawhon Easterly. According the plea, supervisors had ordered the beating of Easterly as punishment for his striking a female corrections officer.

“This guilty plea does not reflect on the overwhelming number of law enforcement officers who do a difficult job and do it well,” said Gregory A. White, U.S. Attorney for the Northern District of Ohio. “At the same time, it demonstrates that no one is above the law; least of all the people we trust to enforce it.” Kaschak’s federal guilty plea carries a maximum sentence of 10 years in prison and a fine of up to $250,000.

The Federal Bureau of Investigation and the Ohio Bureau of Criminal Identification and Investigation are jointly investigating this matter. This case is being jointly prosecuted by the Criminal Section of the Department of Justice’s Civil Rights Division and the United States Attorney’s Office for the Northern District of Ohio. 04-271

Source: US Department of Justice