By James Halpin
Citizen’s Voice
NANTICOKE — A prisoner serving time for disarming a law officer was charged Tuesday with stabbing a state prison guard with a shank following an attack on his cellmate, according to court records.
State police say the altercation, which left an officer at State Correctional Institution at Retreat with puncture wounds and a cut to the leg, began after Hector Vargas-Torres, 36, broke off a piece of a food tray to use as a weapon.
According to an affidavit state police filed in court, officers were called to Vargas-Torres’ cell in the Restricted Housing Unit about 1:45 p.m. Nov. 23 to a report that an inmate was yelling and disturbing the unit. Vargas-Torres told officers arriving at the cell that he would return a food tray he had kept from a previous meal, but when he passed it through the slot the officers saw a piece of the tray’s cover had been broken off, according to the affidavit.
Full story: Authorities: Inmate stabbed prison guard