DA: Bronx correction officers leave inmate deaf after assault on him

Two New York correction officers, one with ties to the Bloods street gang, were named in an indictment on Thursday concerning the brutal 2014 beating of inmate Gilbert Bacallo at the Vernon C. Bain Center detention barge, leaving him deaf.

According to a Daily News report, prosecutors claim the two officers, Nakia Gales and Herman Jiminian, were responsible for the beating of Bacallo in retribution for him having “mouthed off” to Gales, who was the primary organizer of the attack.

“Our investigation has found that she is the ringleader. She is the one affiliated with the known Blood sects,” said Assistant DA Ilya Kharkover in court Thursday, according the Daily News article. Prosecutors also claim that Gales’ neck tattoo of a star shows her loyalty to the gang.

Gales lured Bacallo into a vacant portion of the facility and locked him in a room with four other inmates who assaulted him, prosecutors claimed at Gales’ arraignment Thursday in Bronx Supreme Court, stated the report. Gales allegedly watched the beating.

Officer Herman Jiminian, 41, was charged with aiding in the Jan. 29, 2014 attack and assisting with its cover-up. Prosecutors said he is expected to surrender on Friday, the Daily News reported.

“This is a stunning example of correction officers conspiring with the very inmates they guard to use violence in settling a personal score, according to the charges,” Department of Investigation Commissioner Mark G. Peters said in the article. “There is no tolerance for this type of thuggish behavior. … We will see that it is prosecuted.”

Gales and Jiminian each face up to seven years in prison based on charges of assault, filing false documents and official misconduct, the Daily News reported.

Gales was ordered held on $25,000 bail and is due back in court Friday.