JAIL BEATING CASE Officials keep mum on identity

The county prosecutor can't recall ever having a federal civil rights case here.
By PATRICIA MEADE
VINDICATOR CRIME REPORTER
YOUNGSTOWN -- Those in the know are not saying who in "senior management" at the Mahoning County jail allegedly wanted corrections officers to beat an inmate and drag him naked to a cell.
The federal indictment of three current and three former corrections officers of the sheriff's department states that on Dec. 28, 2001, William DeLuca, a sergeant at the time, "instructed deputies in the jail that, pursuant to instructions from senior management, they were to use force on Tawhon Easterly to punish him." DeLuca, 53, of Youngstown, retired July 17, 2002.
The government, in a press release, pointed out that Sheriff Randall A. Wellington was not the subject of any allegations.
DeLuca and five others pleaded innocent Thursday afternoon in U.S. District Court to charges they conspired to violate Easterly's civil rights. All were released on signature bonds by Magistrate Judge George J. Limbert.
Won't reveal identity
After court, Steven M. Dettelbach, an assistant U.S. attorney, declined to comment about the indictment. The document states that a person known to the grand jury passed an order through supervisors in the jail that Easterly was to be put in the hospital as punishment for hitting a female guard.
Dettelbach referred questions to U.S. Attorney Greg White, who likewise declined to discuss the unnamed senior management person, as did FBI Special Agent John Kane, in charge of the bureau's Boardman office. White and Kane said the investigation is ongoing.
White said he wouldn't speculate if the senior management person would be indicted. He said he doesn't want to presume what the grand jury will decide.
Kane said he hopes those now charged do the right thing.
Wellington would not discuss the indictment Thursday but when pressed said that DeLuca's boss nearly three years ago in the jail would have been the warden.
The FBI, however, did not subpoena the warden's personnel file, disciplinary records and training documents as it did in August 2003 for those now under indictment and those of Maj. Michael Budd and deputies Lawrence Dolak, Angela Eaddy, Christina Kachaylo, Stanley Kosinski, Dave Thoreson and Jeff Tinkey and Ronald J. Kaschak.
The sheriff noted that the person who was warden in December 2001 has a different assignment now.
Related case
The case is assigned to U.S. District Judge Lesley Brooks Wells in Cleveland. Judge Wells has the companion case of Kaschak, 29, of Austintown, who resigned as a deputy after pleading guilty in April to his part in the Easterly beating.
Kaschak is cooperating with federal prosecutors.
Easterly's beating came to light when Kaschak applied for a job at the Austintown Police Department last summer. During a series of pre-employment exams he made allegations of questionable use of force in the jail.
Also making their initial appearance Thursday and receiving signature bonds were: Deputy Raymond Hull III, 35, of Poland; Deputy John Rivera, 32, of Youngstown; Deputy Ryan C. Strange, 28, of Vienna; Mark Dixon, 31, of Youngstown, a former deputy also charged in an unrelated sex case; and Ronald Denson, 49, of Austintown, who retired as a corporal Sept. 20, 2003.
Wellington said Hull, Rivera and Strange would be on paid leave pending the outcome of the charges against them.
A rarity
Mahoning County Prosecutor Paul J. Gains said that, to his knowledge, this is the county's first federal civil rights case involving law enforcement. In the past, there have been state cases that were misdemeanor charges, he said.
Gains said that, if convicted, those who were in supervisory positions at the jail could face up to eight or nine years in prison.
Wellington said he's very disappointed to have so many deputies involved in what he called a huge civil rights case.
Easterly has been incarcerated at Trumbull Correctional Institution since July 2002, serving six years for involuntary manslaughter. In June 2002, he was convicted of assaulting the female deputy six months earlier in the jail.
meade@vindy.com