An Ohio jail officer is facing serious prison time in a case in which it is alleged that he told an inmate that another detainee was facing charges in a sex case, expecting that this would put him at risk.
Matthew Carey, 27, of Grove City, Ohio, is alleged to have disclosed the charges against the victim detainee in March 2022, and the indictment spells out that he knew that individuals charged with sex offenses were at increased risk of being physically assaulted by other detainees, and that the inmate that he told about the charge understood Carey’s words and gestures to be directing and authorizing an attack on the victim.
The indictment charges that Carey, a deputy in the Franklin County Sheriff’s Office who worked in the Franklin County Corrections Center, had no legitimate law enforcement reason to disclose the victim’s charges, and that, after disclosing that information, Carey took no reasonable steps to protect the victim from the predictable and expected assault by other inmates that Carey had set in motion.
In addition to the conspiracy, Carey is charged with two counts of depriving the victim of his constitutional rights under color of law, first by depriving the detainee of his right to be free from unreasonable force and second by depriving the detainee of his right to be free from a deputy’s deliberate indifference to a substantial risk of serious harm. The indictment charges that the crimes resulted in bodily injury.
If convicted, Carey faces a maximum penalty of 10 years in prison for each count.
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Chris Graham
