SUNBURY — A former Northumberland County Prison inmate who was released by a county judge after claiming he was assaulted by four correction officers inflicted his own injuries, an independent investigator said Friday.
WSK & Associates, of Reading, refutes claims by Steven J. Randall, 18, of Sunbury, that he’d been beaten up by corrections officers in early May and suffered a cut near his eye, a report released Friday said.
“To the contrary, this facial injury was self-inflicted,” Alfred M. Uliasz said, adding that Randall admitted to two unidentified guards that he had injured himself and refused medical treatment.
Randall allegedly told his cellmate that he would “use this injury to gain release from prison when he goes to court the next day,” the report said.
Northumberland County Judge William H. Wiest found Randall’s claims credible enough on May 4 when the inmate appeared before him in court on a criminal trespassing charge conduct charge sporting a cut near his eye.
Wiest said Randall told him that he’d been assaulted by four male guards at the prison in retaliation for allegedly breaking into a Shamokin home owned by a female guard last December. Charges are pending against him in that case.
The judge found his abuse claim credible, ordered Randall released from jail and that he not be returned to the same facility where his alleged victim is employed.
Warden Ralph “Rick” Reish disputed Randall’s allegation and the prison board hired WSK to investigate.
“Mr. Randall’s records at the prison refute his allegations of physical abuse,” the report, released by prison board solicitor Todd Kerstetter, said.
Describing a file “several inches thick” on the investigation, Uliasz said Randall, several correction officers and inmates were interviewed and no abuse by guards could be verified.
However, Randall had several run-ins with other inmates, Uliasz said.
“Mr. Randall was a problematic inmate” with several misconduct incidents, he wrote.
He had to be physically removed from his cell twice and surveillance video showed he was “handled professionally” both times.
Randall’s attorney, Antonio Michetti, said Friday that he had not seen WSK’s report and had no immediate comment.
Weist, on vacation until June 16, was also unavailable for comment.
With additional reporting by Rick Dandes.
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