By Kent A. Miles, Rhonda Cook
Atlanta Journal-Constitution
FULTON COUNTY, Ga. — Two more Fulton County jailers were arrested Monday as part of an ongoing federal investigation into abuse of inmates at the county jail that now has ensnared five jail officers.
Derontay Anton Langford, 34, and Mitnee Markette Jones, 46, pleaded not guilty to lying to federal agents in U.S. District Court in Atlanta in a case that began as an investigation into the death of inmate Richard Glasco in March 2008.
U.S. Attorney David Nahmias said the investigation continues and he had a stern message to other jail employees.
“Whether or not we ultimately determine that other officers committed crimes against inmates, any officer who obstructs our efforts to find the truth should expect to be arrested and charged with serious federal felony offenses. Five officers have been charged with obstruction of justice already. Our message to Fulton County jail employees should be clear: You don’t want to be next.”
Langford and Jones appeared separately before U.S. Magistrate C. Christopher Hagy only hours after their arrest by FBI agents.
They are charged with filing a false report, making false statements to federal agents and obstruction of justice, all felonies.
Langford, of Fairburn, is a Fulton County sheriff’s detention officer. Jones, of Atlanta, is a deputy sheriff.
Both were released on $10,000 bond.
Incomplete reports
Two lieutenants in the Fulton County Sheriff’s Office pleaded not guilty April 23 to federal charges that they beat up a prisoner and then tried to cover it up.
And on March 20, the first deputy arrested in the federal investigation, Curtis Jerome Brown Jr., 41, of Lithonia, was charged with beating a mentally ill inmate, who later died.
According to an indictment unsealed Monday afternoon, Langford and Jones helped Brown by submitting incomplete reports about contact with Glasco just before his March 2008 death and lying to federal agents and the grand jury.
Glasco had started kicking and pounding his fists on the cell door and window and later was found unconscious, according to a jail report on the incident.
Glasco died later that same day.
At that time of Glasco’s death, the Fulton sheriff’s office was already investigating Brown on suspicions he assaulted another inmate in August 2007.
Federal officials suspect Brown beat a handcuffed inmate in the head and face, leaving the prisoner bloodied and needing medical attention.
Copyright 2009 Atlanta Journal-Constitution