PITTSBURGH,None — Six more prison guards surrendered Tuesday on charges resulting from a grand jury investigation of sexual and physical abuse of inmates at the State Correctional Institution-Pittsburgh.
Allegheny County District Attorney Stephen Zappala Jr. previously said he expected as many as 11 more arrests in the case revealed in September. That's when suspended 60-year-old guard, Harry Nicoletti, of Coraopolis, was charged with raping, threatening and otherwise abusing several inmates over the last two years, including having inmates or guards contaminate the food and bedding of his alleged targets with urine and other bodily fluids.
Nicoletti has called the allegations "made up."
Nicoletti faces 92 criminal counts including institutional sexual assault, involuntary deviate sexual intercourse and official oppression -- which amounts to covering up the crimes or threatening others to do so. The new charges filed against the other guards Tuesday all mirror Nicoletti's criminal charges and two civil rights lawsuits filed by inmates in recent months.
The accusers were serving sentences for child sex crimes or were perceived to be homosexual by Nicoletti or the guards who had been suspended without pay before they surrendered: Sean Storey, 26, Kevin Friess, 31, and Jerome Lynch, 35, all of Pittsburgh; Tory Kelly, 40, of Aliquippa; Brian Olinger, 32, of Washington, Pa.; and Bruce Lowther, 33, of West Newton.
All but Olinger are accused of at least one instance of physical abuse against inmates. Prosecutors allege Olinger didn't stop the abuse and charged him only with official oppression.
It was not immediately clear if Olinger has an attorney and Lynch's lawyer declined immediate comment. But attorneys for the other four denied wrongdoing and said they expect to challenge the credibility of the accusers and witnesses.
"We are looking forward to challenging the allegations by these inmates and cross-examining them in the near future," said Lowther's attorney, Mark Fiorilli.
Said Friess' attorney, Casey White, "You have to consider the source of these allegations and at some point credibility will come into play."
"For the most part, he was just doing his job," White said, adding that state prison "isn't supposed to be fun" for inmates.
But the complaints and affidavits indicate these guards made prison torture for some inmates.
Friess and Kelly face the most charges among those who surrendered Tuesday, with Friess facing 20 counts, including simple assault, conspiracy, official oppression and witness intimidation.
Friess was allegedly present when Nicoletti held an inmate's head in a toilet -- by putting a boot on the man's neck -- while the toilet was flushed three or four times. Friess is also accused of threatening a white inmate who passed cigarettes to black inmates, whom Friess allegedly didn't like and referred to with a racial slur.
Kelly faces 26 criminal counts, including official oppression, simple assault, witness intimidation, conspiracy, terroristic threats and stalking.
Inmates told the grand jury that Friess, Kelly and Lynch often accompanied Nicoletti "and participated in the abuse of the pedophile inmates."
Kelly, in particular, threatened inmates to keep quiet about the abuse and regularly visited two inmate witnesses he allegedly threatened or hit.
Kelly told one inmate "that he has `buddies' that worked throughout the state's prison system and sooner or later they would get him," according to the criminal complaint.
Another inmate was told, "If you ever say anything to anyone I will splatter your blood all over the cell," the complaint said.
Storey and Lowther face one count each of official oppression and simple assault, with Storey also charged with terroristic threats and Lowther with conspiracy.
Zappala, the district attorney, has said prison administrators aren't targeted by the criminal investigation, and didn't say when other defendants would be charged.
"My office, and this community, cannot tolerate conduct like this from persons in an authority position in this type of institutional setting," he said, declining further comment because the investigation is ongoing.
The related civil lawsuits, one filed in 2010 and another on behalf of an anonymous inmate in September, allege the systematic abuse of inmates directed by Nicoletti in the prison's F Block, a reception area where new prisoners are housed for medical testing and to receive supplies before moving to permanent cells.
In April, corrections officials suspended eight guards at the prison, including Nicoletti, and four top prison officials have since left the department, although officials have declined to say whether they were fired or resigned.
The Pennsylvania State Corrections Officers Association has filed grievances over the suspensions and has denied the sexual abuse allegations in the lawsuits.
Department of Corrections spokeswoman Sue Bensinger said she could not comment on the new charges.
The guards pleaded not guilty at their arraignments Tuesday. All were likely to remain free on bond like Nicoletti.
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