Former Philly prison guard pleads guilty to assault of inmate
A former Philadelphia corrections officer pleaded guilty Monday to a misdemeanor charge of simple assault in a 2014 incident involving an inmate at the Curran-Fromhold Correctional Facility.
A former Philadelphia corrections officer pleaded guilty Monday to a misdemeanor charge of simple assault in a 2014 incident involving an inmate at the Curran-Fromhold Correctional Facility.
Larry Levy, 31, entered the plea before Common Pleas Court Judge Anne Marie B. Coyle on what was to have been the start of jury selection for his trial for the Nov. 25, 2014, assault.
Coyle ordered a presentence investigation and set sentencing for Sept. 27. Assistant District Attorney Andrew Wellbrock said Levy could face up to two years in prison.
When Levy was charged in May 2014, prosecutors said the incident happened about 9 a.m., when inmate Victor Henderson asked if he could wait outside his cell while his cellmate used the toilet.
Wellbrock said Levy ordered Henderson back into his cell.
Wellbrock said Henderson refused and had begun to walk away when Levy punched him nine times, kicked him in the back of a leg, and threw him to the floor. Wellbrock said Levy then stepped on Henderson's head, punched him, and used pepper spray on him.
The confrontation was recorded on surveillance video "from start to finish," Wellbrock added.
Henderson, 24, was serving an eight- to 23-month sentence for selling drugs, according to court records.
Wellbrock said Henderson did not sustain lasting injuries and has since been released.
Levy, who was hired in 2008, no longer works in the city prisons.
Defense attorney Shaka M. Johnson said Levy pleaded guilty in part "because this is a poor climate we're in for trying these kind of cases."
Johnson said he hopes that the judge will credit Levy's six years of service to the city when he is sentenced. "It's really a shame in life that you don't get a do-over," he said. "It was one mistake in judgment."
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