WHEELING, W.Va.—A
federal grand jury on Tuesday indicted a West Virginia sheriff on charges
stemming from an alleged beating in 2010.
U.S. Attorney
William J. Ihlenfeld announced in a news release Tuesday that Jefferson County
Sheriff Robert Shirley is charged with one count of deprivation of rights under
the color of law for allegedly assaulting and kicking a person on Dec. 27,
2010, in Berkeley County. Prosecutors said Shirley is also charged with
falsifying records during a federal investigation of the incident.
If convicted on
both counts, the 60-year-old Shirley faces up to 30 years in prison and a
$500,000 fine.
Shirley's
attorney, Kevin Mills, said the case stems from the apprehension of a dangerous
bank robbery suspect -- now in prison -- and that his client "will be
entering pleas of not guilty to both counts."
The indictment
comes a week after Mark Daniel Haines, a Harpers Ferry man serving a prison
sentence for bank robbery, sued Shirley and 14 unidentified law enforcement
officers whom he says beat him severely after a failed heist and vehicle chase
through Jefferson and Berkeley counties in December 2010.
In the civil suit,
Haines, currently an inmate at Maryland's Allegheny County Detention Center,
says Shirley repeatedly kicked Haines in the head and stomped on his face while
other officers threw him to the ground and against a cruiser, punched him and
shocked him with stun guns.
Shirley's
attorneys said in a statement last week that the sheriff denies the inmate's
allegations. And on Tuesday, Mills criticized federal prosecutors.
"We're a
little bit surprised the civil rights division from Washington, D.C., has
gotten involved in this case and is making decisions about how law enforcement
officers, including Sheriff Shirley, would conduct themselves when chasing a
violent, serial bank robber who has fled the scene of a robbery," Mills
said.
A message left
with the West Virginia State Police was not immediately returned.
Representatives at the Jefferson County Sheriff's Office and the FBI in West
Virginia said no one was available to comment.