California prison guards charged in inmate’s death, alleged cover-up scheme

Two former prison guards have been charged in connection with the 2016 death of an inmate at California State Prison, Sacramento, and alleged efforts to cover up how he died.

Arturo Pacheco, 38, was indicted Thursday by a federal grand jury with two counts of deprivation of rights under color of law and two counts of falsifying records in a federal investigation.

Ashley Marie Aurich, 31, was charged separately with one count of falsifying records in a federal investigation.

Neither Pacheco nor Aurich could be reached for comment Thursday.

According to court records, the two were escorting a 65-year-old inmate with his hands cuffed behind his back at the prison — commonly known as New Folsom — on Sept. 15, 2016, when Pacheco bent down and yanked the inmate’s legs backward out from under him.

U.S. Attorney McGregor Scott issued a statement Thursday saying the inmate, who suffered a broken jaw and teeth, was taken to a hospital and died two days later.

“Pacheco abused his position of authority to harm an inmate,” Scott said. “Instead of upholding and enforcing the law, he went on to conceal his actions and asked others to assist him.

“The U.S. Attorney’s Office will continue to hold accountable correctional officers who violate the public’s trust by harming inmates or by covering up wrongdoing.”

The inmate is not identified in the indictment, and the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation did not issue a news release about the incident at the time.

Court records say the two guards were escorting the inmate from his cell in Building A6 to a new cell in Building A7, and that when the guards and inmate entered the rotunda in A7 the inmate stopped walking.

Pacheco allegedly responded by releasing his grip on the inmate’s left arm, then wrapped his arms around the inmate’s legs and pulled them backward, court documents say. Three other guards also were present, court records say.

Following the incident, Pacheco and Aurich filed incident reports “intentionally concealing the presence” of one of the other three guards and falsely reporting that the inmate “spun to his left and lunged forward,” breaking Pacheco’s grip, court records say.

Aurich also allegedly reported that Pacheco had not “used immediate force” against the inmate and that the inmate had landed “on his stomach face down,” court records say.

Separate incident involving pepper spray

The indictment also alleges that Pacheco filed another false report stemming from a May 19, 2016, incident when he used his department-issued pepper spray canister to spray a second inmate in the face despite the fact that the inmate was cooperating with Pacheco’s orders.

In that incident, Pacheco claimed he confronted an inmate who was holding a piece of glass and ordered him to drop it, turn around and prepare to be handcuffed, the indictment says.

“In order to stop (Victim 1) from self-harming himself and causing serious bodily injury or death to himself, I used immediate force, utilizing an approximate 3 second burst from my MK-9 OC pepper spray,” Pacheco wrote in an incident report, according to the indictment.

The indictment tells a different story, saying the 54-year-old inmate did not have a piece of glass and that Pacheco ordered him to come closer and open his eyes, and that the guard then sprayed him.

“Pacheco falsified and made the foregoing false entry in a record knowing that Victim 1 had not been holding glass at the time,” the indictment says. “And, in truth and in fact, Pacheco falsified and made the foregoing false entry in a record knowing that Pacheco did not order Victim 1 to submit to handcuffs before spraying him with pepper spray.”

Pacheco faces up to 10 years in prison and a $250,000 fine on the deprivation of rights counts, and both former guards face up to 20 years in prison and a $250,000 fine on the falsifying records counts.

State corrections officials say both guards were dismissed from their jobs June 25, 2018.

“The department conducted a thorough investigation into this incident in collaboration with the Federal Bureau of Investigation,” CDCR said in a statement. “After substantiating allegations of misconduct and dishonesty, the officers involved were promptly dismissed from the department.

“CDCR has a zero-tolerance policy for any form of dishonesty. All reports of dishonesty or misconduct are investigated thoroughly, and proper disciplinary action is taken.”

This story was originally published November 19, 2020 at 1:42 PM with the headline "California prison guards charged in inmate’s death, alleged cover-up scheme."