District Attorney to Seek Grand Jury Indictments in Jail Inmate Beatings

By ALEXIS TONTI

The Cape and Islands district attorney said yesterday he will go to a Dukes County grand jury to ask for indictments as the result of a state police investigation into allegations of officer collusion in two separate inmate beatings at the Dukes County House of Correction.

"We will more than likely be presenting evidence to a grand jury in the coming weeks," said Michael Trudeau, the first assistant Cape and Islands district attorney.

"The grand jury will hear testimony from witnesses and ultimately it will be the grand jury's purview to make a decision as to whether there is probable cause with which to charge an individual or individuals," said Mr. Trudeau.

A special sitting of the grand jury is scheduled for May 5 in the Edgartown court house.

In November Dukes County sheriff Michael McCormack first called for state police to investigate after an inmate, Alan Thistle, 52, of South Boston, charged that correctional officers had been involved in two assaults last year.

"I have full faith that the district attorney's office is doing the right thing by letting the grand jury hear evidence and make the decision as to whether a crime has been committed," Sheriff McCormack said yesterday.

The grand jury convened on Tuesday to consider new indictments during the opening of the spring sitting of Dukes County superior court.

"It is important to note that the grand jury proceedings are secretive in nature, so anything that happens is not open to the public," said Mr. Trudeau.

The investigation at the Dukes County jail was thrust into the spotlight last month when Mr. Thistle drew attention to the beatings in detailed letters written to Scott Harshbarger, the former attorney general who is chairman of a special commission investigating the state prison system.

The assaults at the center of the controversy occurred in June and September of last year. In the first incident, an inmate attacked then-inmate Paul Garcia, 54, of West Tisbury; in the second incident the same inmate attacked Mr. Thistle.

In his letter outlining the attacks, Mr. Thistle includes charges of intimidation and harassment by several officers and official indifference to his complaints.

Sheriff McCormack said last month that his initial inquiries into Mr. Garcia's beating turned up no evidence of official wrongdoing.

But the persistence of rumors among inmates, along with circumstantial evidence, presented by Mr. Thistle, that there had been staff involvement in the assaults led the sheriff to ask state police to investigate.

Mr. Thistle alleges that last year correctional officers T.J. Roginski and Michael Trance propositioned inmate Jason Labbe to attack Mr. Garcia in return for "chew," a container of chewing tobacco. He says they also promised to "make his time comfortable and get him some work details to lessen his sentence."

Mr. Thistle says the attack was intended to settle a score between Mr. Roginski and Mr. Garcia, who formerly employed Mr. Roginski's girlfriend and dismissed her over a financial dispute.

Mr. Thistle also says that after the assault he told officials at the jail that several officers had asked Mr. Labbe to beat up Mr. Garcia. Soon afterward Mr. Labbe was moved into the same cell as Mr. Thistle, a move he suggested was meant to intimidate him into quieting down about the incident.

Mr. Thistle was transferred from the Dukes County jail to the to the South Bay House of Corrections in Boston on March 4. Several weeks ago he was transferred to the Norfolk House of Correction in Dedham to serve the remainder of his 18-month drug sentence.

Mr. Trudeau said he is continuing to review reports on the case from the Cape and Islands State Police Detectives Unit, the investigative arm of the district attorney's office.