SAN JOSE (BCN) — Two Santa Clara County sheriff’s deputies were each arraigned Wednesday afternoon on a charge of assaulting an inmate at the Main Jail in San Jose last year.
Phillip Abecendario, 27, and Tuan Le, 31, are accused of assaulting inmate Ruben Garcia on July 23. They appeared Wednesday with their attorneys, Judith Odbert and Matthew Pavone, respectively, at the Hall of Justice in San Jose.
The deputies were placed on administrative leave in February and were arrested last month, when they posted $25,000 bail each.
Abecendario and Le, who were dressed in suits, didn’t enter a plea and are scheduled to return to court on Aug. 23.
The defendants face up to three years in county jail if convicted, Santa Clara County Deputy District Attorney John Chase said after Wednesday’s hearing.
“(This is) a situation where guards lose their temper or get upset with an inmate, which is human and possibly understandable, but what they’re not allowed to do is beat up an inmate in their care,” Chase said.
Garcia filed a complaint in September on the alleged beating that took place during on the night of July 23, according to a court document filed in the case by sheriff’s Sgt. Aaron Simonson.
The deputies allegedly assaulted Garcia in an interview room on the sixth floor as he was waiting to be placed a new cell, where they beat him again, according to Simonson.
Garcia said he became impatient while waiting at the interview room and used profane language toward the officers before he fell asleep, according to Simonson.
The deputies allegedly woke up the inmate by pulling him from his seat and punching him, during which time Le was “chiding him with statements,” Simonson said.
The guards then dragged Garcia, whose hands were stuck in twist locks and whose pants and underwear at some point came down, Simonson said.
Garcia, who was shackled at his hips and legs, was taken to a cell in the 6A dorm where the deputies allegedly beat him up for a second time, according to Simonson.
Garcia said he was thrown against a wall and on the floor, then Le lifted the inmate’s head and asked “Who’s the b—- now?” according to Simonson.
Garcia replied, “I’m the b—-, sir,” according to Simonson.
The deputies removed Garcia’s shackles, left him in the cell by himself and didn’t respond to his calls for medical attention, according to Simonson.
Garcia ended up in a fist fight with another inmate before he was taken to Santa Clara Valley Medical Center the following night for treatment of a cut over his eye and broken jaw that he claimed were from the two
guards, Simonson said.
The inmate then returned to the Main Jail, where he was placed in another cell, according to Simonson.
Two dozen inmates who were interviewed corroborated Garcia’s statements that he was forced into a cell, had his pants down and was involved in a “violent altercation” inside the room, Simonson said.
A review of the duty roster showed Le was assigned to the dorm where Garcia was initially placed and Abecendario was working at the floor officer’s station, according to Simonson.
There were no security cameras set up in the hallway leading to the dorm and interview room or cells, Simonson said.
There was surveillance video captured around 10:30 p.m. that night, possibly the time when the guards took Garcia into the cell, showing a hallway to the 6B dorm, according to Simonson.
The video showed part of the floor officer’s desk where Abecendario was seen in latex gloves and holding waist chains or leg shackles, according to Simonson.
The footage also showed Le arrive to the desk in gloves that he disposes in a garbage can, Simonson said.
Abecendario, Le and two other deputies assigned to the sixth floor that night didn’t file any reports related to Garcia’s housing or injuries, according to Simonson.
In speaking with investigators, Abecendario couldn’t recall putting Garcia in a cell, seeing the inmate in an interview room or any use of force, Simonson said.
Le told investigators that there was nothing unusual when Garcia was housed and no physical altercation, Simonson said.
The Main Jail’s sixth floor was the same place where inmate Michael Tyree was allegedly beaten to death in late August by three other jail guards, who have been ordered to stand trial in the case, according to court documents.