INS Detention Officer Indicted in Beating of Escaped Inmate
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A U.S. Immigration and Naturalization Service detention officer has been charged in a federal civil rights indictment with assaulting a prisoner at the INS lockup in San Pedro.
According to the indictment, Paina Moeai, 39, a four-year INS detention officer, assaulted an inmate after his capture following an escape attempt.
Moeai denies any wrongdoing and will contest the charge, said his attorney, Ron Ackerman.
The officer was removed from the detention center immediately after the incident and reassigned to administrative duties elsewhere, the INS said in a statement.
The detainee, Enrique Pereira-Grau, a Cuban national, was allegedly beaten on the evening of Oct. 30, 1994, as he was being returned to the facility, said assistant U.S. Atty. Michael Gennaco. The prisoner was assaulted a second time in the processing tank at San Pedro, Gennaco said, and was later hospitalized.
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