Four Alameda County Sheriff deputies face charges
Four Alameda County Sheriff deputies accused of abusing at least eight inmates at Santa Rita Jail, including choking one until he passed out and allowing feces to be thrown at inmates, were charged Tuesday by the district attorney.
Deputies Justin Linn, 23, of Tracy, and Erik McDermott, 27, of Concord, are charged with felony assault under the color of authority, witness intimidation, and conspiracy to obstruct justice, according to the Alameda County District Attorney’s Office. Deputy Sarah Krause and former deputy Stephen Sarcos were charged with felony assault under the color of authority.
McDermott is also alleged to have choked an inmate into unconsciousness.
The four appeared at the East County Hall of Justice on Tuesday with their attorneys. McDermott’s bail, which he had previously posted at $135,000, was increased to $320,000. His attorney argued that his client is a lifelong Alameda County resident, and his stepfather and aunt are retired law enforcement officers, and therefore isn’t a flight risk.
Similarly, Linn’s bail was also increased, to $340,000, although he previously posted a $135,000 bail. His attorney also said he’s been well aware of this investigation for about a year, and is present and not a flight risk.
Judge Armando Cuellar agreed to raise both their bail amounts but gave them until their next court hearing on Monday to post it or be remanded back into custody. Krause and Santos have both previously posted $35,000 bail each.
All four defendants and their attorneys refused to comment outside the courtroom in Dublin after their arraignments Thursday afternoon.
A formal investigation by the Sheriff’s Office was launched in January, although an inmate first alerted staff of the mistreatment of inmates by deputies Linn and McDermott on Nov. 20, 2016. The whistleblower inmate said the two deputies were allegedly using an inmate to throw feces and urine onto other prisoners in the jail’s housing unit 2, according to court documents.
The inmate accused Linn of allowing this to happen, since inmates cannot open cell doors without the help of deputies, according to a probable cause declaration.
“These four deputies directed, facilitated, enabled and committed sadistic and terrorizing acts against several men whose protection fell directly within the responsibility of their positions as correctional officers,” District Attorney Nancy O’Malley said in a statement Tuesday.
“The conduct of these four defendants violates the law, and there is no rational explanation for their actions aside from abject cruelty and a disregard for the humanity of the inmates,” she said.
Court documents reveal that besides the reporting inmate, others including a civilian jail employee witnessed the alleged incidents of feces and urine throwing, using a shampoo bottle.
Linn and McDermott also allegedly told other inmates to spread the word that Ruben Anthony Febo Jr., who also contacted this newspaper last month, was a “snitch.” Linn allegedly walked another inmate into a walk-in freezer and told him to tell Febo’s gang that he was a snitch, the court document stated.
In a jail letter sent earlier last month to this news organization, Febo describes frequent abuse that was not a secret among deputies or inmates.
“I was placed into a cell that was saturated in feces from the floor to the ceiling and all over the bunk beds,” Febo wrote. “I was made to go into this cell involuntarily.”
Febo, 30, was arrested in Hayward in 2014 on suspicion of attempted murder and other charges, according to court records. He was housed in the same area where the mistreatment took place, arriving there in September 2016, according to jail records and the letter.
Both Sarcos and Krause allegedly admitted their involvement from an incident in September 2016. The two allegedly assisted an inmate by unlocking his cell door, and the door of another, so he could get out and assault another inmate with a plastic bottle full of feces and urine, court documents stated.
Sarcos resigned earlier this year, and Krause, Linn and McDermott were placed on administrative leave in June. The three could face disciplinary action, including termination from their positions.