Ex-Deputy Pleads No Contest in Prisoner Beating

A former San Diego County sheriff’s deputy has pleaded no contest to a charge that he assaulted an inmate late last year in the downtown County Jail--the first time in the last five years that a deputy has been successfully prosecuted for using excessive force in the jails.

Arthur Verbeck, a deputy for just over a year, entered his plea May 25 in Municipal Court for the December beating of a 43-year-old Chula Vista taxi driver who was incarcerated for non-payment of child support.

“He pleaded to what we charged him with,” A. Craig Rooten, an assistant district attorney, said Wednesday. “You can’t do any better than that.”

The inmate, James Vallario, was beaten in December when he returned from a court hearing and was unable to get through a door locked inside a jail stairwell.

Rooten and Sheriff’s Department officials said that Vallario did not provoke the assault. “He was somewhat thumped,” Rooten said. “I think he had some bruises. I think he had a bump on his head.”

But Vallario’s attorney contended that her client was kicked, punched and knocked to the floor.

‘Viciously Attacked’

“He was creamed,” Marsha Duggan said. “I can tell you he was viciously attacked. And, although I don’t really yet know the full extent of his injuries, doctors are indicating internal injuries to his liver and kidney.”

Vallario, in an interview Wednesday night, gave this account:

“Deputy Verbeck opened the door, grabbed me into a headlock and ran me across the hallway, head first into a brick wall. All I saw were white spots, it hurt so bad.

“Then he turned me around, still in the headlock. He was trying to head me toward a rubber room and he rammed me face first into a steel door. I dropped to my knees. I was going out.

“He put me in an armlock and slammed me face first on the floor. He put these big brass jail keys in between his knuckles and he punched me in the side, 15 or 16 times. I took a lot of jabs in the kidney. So many I couldn’t count.

“I tried to stand up, but I couldn’t move. Then he kicked me right in the stomach. Then he grabbed me by the collar, like choking me. He stood me up against the wall and said, ‘That’s what Mexicans get when they piss me off.’ He thought I was Mexican, but I’m full-blooded Italian.”

Verbeck could not be reached for comment Wednesday. Officials in the Sheriff’s Department said the deputy was hired in November, 1987, and that he resigned shortly after the Dec. 4 assault.

By entering a plea of no contest, Verbeck admitted that there was enough evidence to convict him in a trial on the misdemeanor charge of assault under the color of authority. He is scheduled to be sentenced June 15. Rooten said it is unlikely that the deputy will be sent to jail.

The case marked the second time in five years that a deputy sheriff has been taken to court accused of assaulting an inmate. In the earlier case, Deputy James Armand was tried and acquitted last year on a charge of beating and kicking an inmate in County Jail downtown. Both prosecutions have surfaced publicly in the midst of widespread allegations of abuse by deputies against inmates in the six county jails.

The Federal Bureau of Investigation and the U.S. attorney’s office are reviewing complaints by inmates to determine if they warrant prosecution as violations of civil-rights laws. And the local American Civil Liberties Union is compiling evidence of inmate beatings as it pursues its lawsuit over crowding and medical care in the jails.

Sheriff John Duffy, in a press conference May 24, denied that inmate abuse is widespread. The sheriff also discussed the Verbeck criminal case briefly.

“He used excessive force without provocation or justification,” the sheriff said of Verbeck. “And the inmate did sustain injuries. The deputy resigned to avoid termination.”

Vallario was charged in November with non-payment of support for his 10-year-old daughter. He was placed in the downtown jail after failing to post $20,000 bail.

The assault occurred as he was returning to the jail from a courtroom appearance. Walking up a jail stairwell, Vallario came to a door that was locked and, as is jail routine, announced that he was waiting outside for a deputy to open the door.

He went unnoticed. Three other inmates arrived in the stairwell, and again Vallario announced that they were waiting outside. At that point, Verbeck opened the door and pulled Vallario out.

In the presence of the other inmates and two other deputies, Duggan said, Verbeck punched and kicked Vallario several times, knocking him to the ground.

Besides internal injuries, Duggan said, Vallario has “suffered a great deal of emotional distress.”

“He was off work for a long time,” the attorney said. “He continues to take medication, although he is improving.”

Duggan said she filed a civil claim on behalf of Vallario on March 15. No dollar amount in damages was sought, she said, because the medical costs for her client have not yet been totaled. She said she also plans to file a lawsuit next month in Superior Court.

Thomas L. Brown, county claims supervisor, said the county will probably want to settle any claim by Vallario, especially in light of the fact that Verbeck has entered a plea in the criminal case.

‘Likelihood of a Judgment’

“The information I have is that there is a very good chance that, if the civil case were tried, the county would be found liable. There would be a reasonable likelihood of a judgment against the county,” Brown said.

Brown said the Verbeck case is one of several inmate-beating cases presented to the county Board of Supervisors in a recent closed-door meeting that the panel held with Duffy.

Duffy indicated in his press conference that he believes there is merit in Vallario’s claim against the county.

“We have recommended to the county that they settle that claim because we were wrong,” the sheriff said.