By Julie Rae Rickard
Centre Daily Times
HOUTZDALE, Pa. — The case against a state prison inmate accused of being involved with a riot at Houtzdale state prison in April 2015 is moving on to the Court of Common Pleas.
Isaiah Samir Lakeem Hall, 26, is charged with three counts each of aggravated assault, assault by prisoner and simple assault, as well as riot. After a preliminary hearing Thursday, District Judge James Hawkins ruled all charges be held to court. Hall remains in another state prison facility.
The charges stem from assaults that occurred after corrections officers tried to break up a fight between two inmates. Of the five officers assaulted by the six inmates, four of them were taken to UPMC Altoona for treatment.
According to the affidavits of probable cause, on April 28, 2015, a corrections officer saw Richard Adams kicking another inmate who was lying on the ground. This officer contacted the control office to report the assault.
The officer then went toward Adams as he began to walk away from the victim. Other officers arrived to assist the first CO. As they approached him, they repeated several orders to Adams in regard to being cuffed. Adams refused all orders, took his coat off and threw it onto the ground. He then took a fighting stance and stated “you’re not cuffing me!”
The officers took Adams to the ground and attempted to restrain him with handcuffs. Several inmates stepped in and began assaulting the five officers. They punched, hit and kicked them multiple times in their heads, faces and bodies.
Hall allegedly kicked one of the officers several times about the head and body while they were on the ground. Adams kicked, stomped and punched this same officer. Yafest Oliver also struck this same CO with closed fists about the head and body. That officer suffered a laceration on his head about 3 centimeters long, facial contusions, a concussion and a sinus fracture.
Hall allegedly kicked another officer several times in the head while he was down and stomped a third officer on the ground.
The others charged are Norman Wothman, 52, who decided to plead guilty while he was testifying at his trial in July; Oliver, 27, who has also pleaded guilty; and Bahair Stafford, 29.
Adams, 35, pleaded guilty in August to aggravated assault, assault by prisoner, riot, disorderly conduct and three various counts of criminal conspiracy. President Judge Fredric J. Ammerman sentenced him to a total of 15 to 30 years in state prison.
Oliver and Wothman are scheduled to be sentenced in November.