FRANKFORT, Ky. (LEX 18) — A former Shelby County deputy jailer was sentenced to four years in federal prison for organizing an assault by a group of inmates on a prisoner at the Shelby County Detention Center with whom he had a "personal vendetta against."
The sentence was handed down Monday to William Anthony Carey, 31, by U.S. District Judge Gregory F. VanTatenhove, for violating the civil rights of an inmate in his custody.
According to a guilty plea agreement, Carey spoke of his grudge to an inmate, Corey Lynn Hopper, 30, who was incarcerated with the victim in Shelbyville, and asked Hopper to “take care of him.”
That night, while the inmate slept, Hopper and several others beat him, punching and kicking the inmate multiple times.
The assault left the victim with severe facial fractures and missing teeth, according to the report.
“The duty of correctional officers is to uphold the law and protect the people within their care,” said Assistant Attorney General Eric Dreiband, of the Department of Justice’s Civil Rights Division. “These actions are not only illegal and morally wrong, they go against the oath this officer took when he entered the job. This division will continue to work to protect the civil rights of all Americans, and vigorously prosecute those who violate them.”
Hopper pleaded guilty to his role in the assault in January 2020, pleading to aiding and abetting a person acting under color of law in willfully depriving an inmate of his right to be free from unreasonable force.
Hopper was sentenced on July 15, 2020, to 10 years in federal prison and three years of probation.
Carey pleaded guilty to his role in the assault in March 2019. He will also serve three years of probation upon his release.
Under federal law, both must serve 85 percent of their prison sentences.
