Meet Hunter Elward, Brett McAlpin, Jeffrey Middleton, Christian Dedmon, Daniel Opdyke, and Joshua Hartfield.
In January, these six white Rankin County, Mississippi Sheriff's Department officers entered a house without a warrant and sexually assaulted two black men.
The Associated Press reports that the victims were staying at a white woman's home in Braxton, where they had been invited to help care for her. The police arrived at the home following a complaint from a white neighbor about Black individuals at the residence.
During the incident, the officers used racist language and warned the men to avoid Rankin County and return to areas with a higher number of Black residents.
One of the victims, identified as Jenkins, sustained serious injuries when officer Elward fired a gun into his mouth, resulting in a lacerated tongue, a broken jaw, and a bullet wound on his neck.
The officers further subjected the two men to humiliating and abusive treatment, including handcuffing them, throwing eggs at them, forcing them to consume milk, alcohol, and chocolate syrup while lying on their backs, and making them strip and shower to erase the evidence.
The officers also used stun guns on the victims to compare the power of the weapons from their respective departments.
After having their fun, the officers then planned an elaborate cover-up. From The Philadelphia Inquirer:
As Jenkins bled on the floor, the officers devised a cover story for investigators: Elward brought Jenkins into a side room to conduct a staged drug bust over the phone and Jenkins reached for a gun when he was released from handcuffs.
Middleton offered to plant an unregistered firearm, but Elward said he would use the BB gun. Dedmon volunteered to plant methamphetamine he had received from an informant. Jenkins was charged with a felony as a result, but the charges were later dropped.
Opdyke put one of Elward's shell casings in a water bottle and threw it into tall grass nearby. Hartfield removed the hard drive from the home's surveillance system and later tossed it in a creek.
Afterward, McAlpin and Middleton made a promise: They would kill any of the officers who told the truth about what happened.
The men, who are no longer working for the Rankin County Sheriff's office, are scheduled to plead guilty to an array of Federal charges including conspiracy against rights, obstructions of justice, deprivation of rights under color of law, discharge of a firearm under a crime of violence, and conspiracy to obstruct justice.. "U.S. District Judge Tom Lee said the men will be sentenced in mid-November. Dedmon and Elward each face a maximum sentence of 120 years plus life in prison and $2.75 million in fines," reports AP. "Hartfield faces a possible sentence of 80 years and $1.5 million, McAlpin faces 90 years and $1.75 million, Middleton faces 80 years and $1.5 million, and Opdyke could be sentenced to 100 years with a $2 million fine.
