LOS ANGELES | At least six and possibly as many as 14 Los Angeles County sheriff's deputies are under criminal investigation for allegedly encouraging trusties - inmates who have been granted special privileges - to brutally beat inmates accused of child molestation, according to sources and department officials.
The agency's investigation into the deputies' alleged misconduct began several weeks ago, after an accused sex offender told jail administrators that he had been beaten by other inmates. Several trusties later said deputies had urged them to participate in the attacks, the sources said.
The sheriff's internal affairs investigators are looking into a dozen cases in which molestation suspects were either beaten or injured at the jail. The beaten inmates' injuries ranged from bumps and bruises to broken facial bones, said sheriff's custody chief Barry King.
So far, a deputy and a civilian employee have been relieved of duty in connection with the beatings, officials say. More suspensions are expected.
“The deputies would give the trusties the housing location of the inmates so they could go down there and beat the hell out of them,” a source familiar with the investigation said. “Or they would send the inmate into the day room and the trusties would go in en masse ... This is strictly brutality,” the source said. ..more.. by The University of Washington Student Newspaper
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