CLEVELAND, Ohio — Five current and former Cuyahoga County corrections officers were indicted Monday, including one in connection with the death of an inmate.
Martin Devring, 60, is charged with tampering with evidence, dereliction of duty and interfering with civil rights. He was fired Dec. 4 for his actions related to the Aug. 27 death of inmate Joseph Arquillo.
Four others were charged in two other use-of-force incidents involving inmates who were attacked by guards while they were strapped to restraint chairs, according to the indictments.
The charges are the first criminal cases secured after the Ohio Attorney General’s Office took over an investigation into Cuyahoga County corruption that evolved to include a probe of the county’s troubled jail where eight people died in 2018, by far the highest number of inmate deaths in a single year within the past decade.
Cpl. Idris-Farid Clark and Officer Robert Marsh face charges in connection with the attack of a female inmate. Clark is charged with felonious assault, a second-degree felony, and both he and Marsh are charged with misdemeanor counts of assault, unlawful restraint and interfering with civil rights.
Both were put on restricted duty in August 2018.
Cuyahoga County refused to release records relating to anything involving the case. Cleveland.com has filed a claim in the Ohio Court of Claims seeking the records about the incident.
Also charged are Cpl. Nicholas Evans and officer Timothy Dugan. They are charged with felonious assault, unlawful restraint, tampering with evidence and interfering with civil rights.
Cuyahoga County officials declined to release records related to that case and declined to provide any additional information about the case, other than to confirm that Evans and Dugan were under investigation.
County officials have previously declined to provide information on the employment status of Clark, Marsh, Evans and Dugan, citing the on-going criminal investigations. Cuyahoga County spokeswoman Mary Louise Madigan said she did not know if any of the current officers were placed on leave after the charges were filed.
Monday’s indictment sheds additional light on the cases, including that both cases involve officers injuring inmates after they were already strapped to a chair that prohibits inmates from moving.
Warrants were issued for the arrest of all five officers. They are all scheduled for arraignments on April 22.
Ohio Patrolmen’s Benevolent Association attorney Adam Chaloupka declined comment on the charges for the officers his union represents — Devring, Dugan and Marsh. He said Dugan is on paid administrative leave, Marsh is still actively working at the jail and that the union is fighting to get Devring’s job reinstated through arbitration.
Brian Rothenberg, a spokesman for the United Autoworkers union that represents Clark and Evans, declined to comment.
Attorney General Dave Yost took over a Cuyahoga County prosecutor’s investigation into corruption into the administration of Cuyahoga County Executive Armond Budish in February.
Cuyahoga County Prosecutor Michael O’Malley recused himself because his office will have to defend the county in several lawsuits related to mistreatment of inmates at the jail.
Those lawsuits were filed in the wake of a string of deaths at the jail and a Nov. 21 U.S. Marshals Service report that detailed “inhumane” conditions at the jail, including civil rights violations of inmates and jail officers who threatened inmates and used unnecessary force.
Monday’s indictment marks the second jail-related criminal charges since a special county grand jury convened to hear evidence related to a county corruption probe that began with the county IT department.
Former jail director Ken Mills was indicted Jan. 18 on charges of tampering with government records, telecommunications fraud, falsification and tampering with evidence.
Prosecutors said Mills lied to investigators about his role in blocking the hiring of “necessary” nurses at the jail and later lying to investigators about his discussions with an unnamed “high-level” county official. The high-ranking official was not named in the indictment.
Devring’s indictment is the first involving one of the eight deaths in 2018.
Charges in death of inmate
Devring is accused in the indictment of falsely documenting that he conducted his required rounds of the inmates he was in charge of the day that Arquillo died. He checked on Arquillo, kicked his mat and walked away while he was already dead or dying, according to the indictment.
Arquillo died of an overdose and had heroin, fentanyl, cocaine and Valium, according to the Cuyahoga County Medical Examiner. He was booked into the jail on probation violations charges about nine hours before he died.
His housing area had so many inmates that Arquillo was forced to sleep on a mat on the floor, according to records obtained by cleveland.com
Arquillo refused to eat breakfast, and by lunchtime, he was slumped over on his mat, according to the documents. Devring, a 21-year veteran officer, asked if Arquillo wanted lunch and told investigators that Arquillo “just mumbled.”
Surveillance video showed Arquillo lying with his forehead on his mat, with his legs to the side in what is described in reports as an “unnatural position” that showed he was clearly in distress.
Devring kicked Arquillo’s mat and left the cell for lunch, the documents say. Another officer stepped into the pod to relieve Devring. Within two minutes, that officer found Arquillo unconscious.
That officer gave Arquillo CPR until other officers and medical staff relieved him. An ambulance took Arquillo to MetroHealth, where he died.
Devring put in his log of activities that he made all the rounds he needed to in a timely manner.
He later admitted to investigators that he didn’t make those rounds. He said he was unable to make the rounds because of “distractions,” including organizing inmate haircuts, passing out medication, passing out inmate mail, sending inmates to the medical until and ensuring inmates were escorted to meet with visitors, according to the records.
Devring’s union attorney previously said Devring admitted to writing information in his pod’s log book “that was not accurate.” He also said Devring cooperated with the internal investigation.
Clark, Marsh pepper-sprayed inmate, prosecutors say
Clark, 32, and Marsh, 45, attacked inmate Chantelle Glass, 29, on July 16. Glass was booked into the jail on suspicion of domestic violence and for warrants issued for failing to appear in a traffic citation case, according to court and police records.
It is unknown what led up to Clark and Marsh strapping Glass to a restraint chair, but the indictment said she eventually complied with the officers’ orders.
Once strapped to the chair, Marsh hit Glass in the head and Clark from about a foot away sprayed a half-can of pepper foam in her face, according to court records.
Officer turned off body-cam before attack, indictment says
Evans, 34, and Dugan, 40, attacked a different inmate strapped to a restraint chair on March 22 after turning off their body-cams, according to the indictment.
The officers strapped inmate Terrance Debose to a restraint chair and Evans turned off his body camera so it wouldn’t record audio or video of the beating, according to the indictment.
Evans and Dugan repeatedly punched Debose in the head as he was strapped to the chair, according to the incitement. The beating caused Debose to suffer a concussion, the indictment says.
The two officers left Debose in the restraint chair for two hours, depriving him of his constitutional right to get medical treatment, according to the indictment. The officers also violated Debose’s civil rights by using excessive force against him, according to the indictment.
A jail security camera captured the incident on video, the indictment says. Cuyahoga County has denied cleveland.com’s request for the video.