3 indicted on conspiracy charges in 2012 prison riot

Published 3:13 pm Friday, May 30, 2014

Federal prosecutors say in a news release Friday that Hector Miguel Diaz-Osuna, Ricardo Gonzalez-Porras and Jesus Beltran-Rodriguez were indicted by a grand jury. Prosecutors say Gonzalez-Porras is also charged with assaulting a prison guard.

Two other defendants, Juan Geraldo Arredondo and Ernesto Granados, are charged in the indictment with rioting.

One guard was killed and 20 people were injured in the May 20, 2012, riot at the privately-run Adams County Correctional Facility in Natchez, which holds immigrants convicted of crimes while being in the U.S. illegally.

Court records show Beltran-Rodriguez is one of the inmates suspected of beating the guard, Catlin Carithers, who died.

The prison holds nearly 2,500 inmates, most of them convicted on charges of coming back to the U.S. after deportation for being in the country illegally. The prison is owned by Nashville, Tennessee-based Corrections Corporation of America, one of the nation’s largest private prison companies.

Several other inmates have been charged — or convicted — with participating in the riot.

Gerson Benavides was sentenced Thursday in federal court to 75 months imprisonment. Benavides was previously convicted of rioting at the Adams County Correctional Facility. Benavides was also ordered to pay restitution of $1.3 million.

Humberto Cuellar was sentenced Thursday 110 months imprisonment. He also was previously convicted of rioting. He also was ordered to pay restitution of $1.3 million.