Two Rikers Island corrections officers have been charged with covering up a brutal assault on an inmate in 2009. 49-year-old Victor Rodman, who has been part of New York's Boldest for almost a quarter century, allegedly visited another guard, 43-year-old Michelle Hubert, in July of 2009 when a fight broke out between inmates. Investigators tell Newsday that Rodman broke an inmate's nose and caused permanent vision loss in one eye. "These defendants are charged in a disturbing inmate assault and cover-up, betraying their integrity and the city's trust in them," the city's Department of Investigation's commission Rose Gill Hearn said.
NBC reports that Rodman submitted false reports that claimed he was in Hubert's portion of the jail. He later changed his story and said that he was present, but denied injuring the inmate. Hubert also filed reports stating that Rodman wasn't present at the time of the incident. She is charged with false instrument for filing, falsifying business records and official misconduct, while Rodman is charged with assault, offering a false instrument for filing, falsifying business records and official misconduct. Rodman faces seven years in prison on the assault charge.
Yesterday both corrections officers were suspended without pay. Rodman and Hubert make $76,000 annually. In October, two Rikers Island guards pled guilty to a violent "Fight Club" like enforcement system that pitted gang members against other inmates.
