Attorney asks to split cases in Santa Rita abuse matter
Three Alameda County Sheriff’s deputies sat together in court Monday, with a former deputy in a row behind them, awaiting a hearing for allegations that include facilitating the throwing of feces at inmates at Santa Rita Jail.
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. Deputy Sarah Krause and former deputy Stephen Sarcos are charged with felony assault under the color of authority.
McDermott is also alleged to have choked an inmate into unconsciousness.
Linn, McDermott and Krause sat in a row, Santos in the row behind them. One of the defense attorneys, Matthew Pavone, asked Judge Yolanda Northridge to file a motion to separate the cases of Krause and Sarcos from the others.
Linn and McDermott are facing the more serious crimes of the quartet; both their bails were increased earlier this month from $135,000 to $340,000 and $320,000, respectively. Krause and Sarcos both had $35,000 bail each. All four have posted bail and appeared out of custody on Monday.
They all are expected to appear in court again next month to enter pleas.
The allegations against the four current and former deputies include eight total inmate victims.
A formal investigation by the sheriff’s office was launched in January. An inmate first alerted staff of the alleged mistreatment of inmates by deputies Linn and McDermott on Nov. 20, 2016. The whistleblower inmate said the two deputies were allegedly using another inmate to throw feces and urine onto other prisoners in the jail’s housing unit 2, according to court documents.
Court documents concerning McDermott said the alleged choking incident occurred June 16, 2016, in housing unit 2. An inmate said he awoke to the sound of his door being opened and saw McDermott standing over him. He alleges that McDermott assaulted him, strangling him until he lost consciousness.
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 inmate’s cell so he could assault the other inmate with a plastic bottle of feces and urine, court documents stated.
All the deputies were placed on leave in June, except for Sarcos, who resigned.
The four defendants did not comment outside the courtroom in the Rene C. Davidson courthouse Monday morning.