Ex-detention deputy sentenced for hitting restrained inmate

INDIANAPOLIS (AP) - A former detention deputy with the Marion County Sheriff's Office was sentenced Friday to 18 months in federal prison for assaulting a restrained inmate.

Jorge Alberto Mateos, 26, of Noblesville, had previously pleaded guilty to a felony civil rights offense for what federal prosecutors termed 'œhis unreasonable use of force against an inmate in his care.'ť

Court documents say Mateos was working on the evening of Sept. 9, 2021, when deputies ordered an inmate to remove his shoes. The inmate kicked off his shoes and sat in the corner of his cell. Mateos then entered the cell, scolded the inmate and struck him in the face multiple times while the inmate did not resist, documents say.

Other deputies separated the two and placed the inmate in handcuffs, after which Mateos struck the inmate several more times, documents say.

The inmate sustained injuries, documents say.

'œLaw enforcement officers who violate their oaths and choose to assault persons in their custody will be held accountable,'ť Zachary Myers, U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of Indiana, said in a news release.

U.S. District Judge Tanya Walton Pratt ordered Mateos to be supervised by the federal Probation Office for one year following his release from prison. Pratt also ordered Mateos to begin serving his sentence immediately. and he was taken into the custody of a federal marshal.