Authors: Brian Howey and Nate Rosenfield, Mississippi today
A former sheriff’s deputy who subjected Mississippians to physical and sexual assaults was sentenced Wednesday to 40 years in federal prison.
The officer, Christian Dedmon, was related to a bunch of law enforcement officers that terrorized Rankin County and called themselves the “Thug Squad.”
During the hearing, Judge Tom Lee of the U.S. District Court said that while Mr. Dedmon was not the highest-ranking officer to face prison time, his actions were “the most shocking, brutal and cruel acts imaginable.”
Staff member Daniel Opdyke was also sentenced on Wednesday. Mr. Opdyke received almost 18 years in prison. His lawyers said he played a minor role in the harassment.
Earlier this week, two other members of the group, Hunter Elward and Jeffrey Middleton, they were sentenced to 20 and almost 18 years. Mr. Elward shot considered one of the victims in the mouth; Mr. Middleton was the lieutenant overseeing the group.
Two more members of the unit are expected to receive their sentences on Thursday. Last 12 months, all six pleaded guilty to state and federal charges.
A Justice Department investigation found that former officers, most of whom worked for the Rankin County Sheriff’s Office, beat and tortured two black men during a warrantless raid on their home last 12 months.
Deputies arrived after the department’s former chief investigator, Brett McAlpin, received information that Michael Jenkins and Eddie Parker were involved in suspicious activity. According to the investigation, officers rushed inside, shocked Jenkins and Parker with stun guns and used a sex toy.
Prosecutors said Dedmon, 28, played a major role in the robbery. He hit Jenkins and Parker with a sex toy, tried to shove it in their mouths and threatened to rape them.
According to an interview with Mr. Schmidt and prosecutors’ statements, Mr. Dedmon also beat and sexually assaulted a white man, Alan Schmidt, during a traffic stop in December 2022. Mr. Schmidt said The New York Times and Mississippi Today. that Mr. Dedmon threatened to kill him and throw his body into the Pearl River in front of Mr. Opdyke and Mr. Elward.
Mr. Schmidt recalled that in this incident, Mr. Dedmon fired a gun into the air, then struck Mr. Schmidt and shocked him with a stun gun. He also pressed his genitals against Mr. Schmidt’s mouth and bare buttocks while Mr. Schmidt was handcuffed.
“I pray to God that the souls of these officers will be healed of the inner evil that led them to commit these acts,” Mr. Schmidt wrote in a victim impact statement read by prosecutors on Wednesday. “I know I’m not their only victim.”
In court, Mr. Dedmon denied sexually assaulting Mr. Schmidt but apologized for his behavior. “Instead of doing the right thing, I chose to show off,” he said. “If I could take it all back, I promise I would.”
There was a culture of misconduct in the sheriff’s office, Mr. Dedmon said, and his willingness to “do bad things” earned him a promotion to grow to be the youngest investigator in the department.
Prosecutors told the judge that Mr. Dedmon had been involved in other similar incidents, according to an investigative memo that remains to be classified.
Mr. Opdyke’s lawyers asked the judge to sentence their client to seven years in prison, 10 years lower than the utmost.
They argued that Mr. Opdyke, 27, deserved leniency because he was the youngest and least experienced deputy on the Goons team and had committed the fewest acts of violence in each cases. They also said that Mr Opdyke, who was neglected and abused as a baby, saw the group’s leader, Mr McAlpin, as a father figure and followed him (*40*).
“It wasn’t until he was indoctrinated into the Goon Squad cult that he briefly became a person no one recognized,” said Jeffery Reynolds, considered one of Mr. Opdyke’s lawyers.
Mr Opdyke took responsibility for his actions and read the apology. “I swore I would protect you,” he said, turning to Mr. Jenkins and Mr. Parker. “But when it came to action, I was a coward and failed to do it.”
With that, Mr. Parker left the courtroom. “The apology was only because he got caught,” Parker said later.
Local activists said they hoped the verdicts could be the start of a protracted process that might hold law enforcement officers accountable for a long time of abuse. They renewed their calls for criminal charges against Rankin County Sheriff Bryan Bailey.
“The only missing defendant is Bryan Bailey” – Malik Shabazz, a lawyer representing Mr. Jenkins and Mr. Parker, he said. “The sheriff created this culture and atmosphere.”
Mr. Bailey, who has not attended any hearings thus far this week, didn’t respond to requests for comment.
An investigation by Mississippi Today and The New York Times last 12 months revealed: a long time of reign of terror by nearly two dozen Rankin County deputies.
More than 20 people said they were tortured during warrantless raids and brutal interrogations by deputies; most of them haven’t yet been charged with a criminal offense, and some still work for the sheriff’s office.
