ATLANTA
A federal grand jury indicted a former Gwinnett County, Georgia, Deputy Sheriff Aaron S. Masters, who was assigned to the Rapid Response Team (RRT) at the Gwinnett County Jail, for allegedly using excessive force against a female inmate in 2018, officials stated.
Masters assaulted the inmate and wrote a false incident report to justify his use of force, according to officials.
“We recognize that corrections officers have a difficult job as they maintain order and protect inmates in our district’s prisons and county jails,” said U.S. Attorney Byung J. “BJay” Pak. “However, this deputy sheriff must be held accountable for allegedly abusing his authority by committing a violent and unnecessary assault on an inmate, and then writing a false report to cover up the incident.”
“The vast majority of sworn officers working in our jails and prisons protect the civil rights of inmates no matter the difficult challenges they face,” said Chris Hacker, Special Agent in Charge of FBI Atlanta. “It is an insult to those officers when one of their own violates those rights, and that is why Masters must face his peers in court for his alleged actions.”
According to U.S. Attorney Pak and court records, Aaron Masters was employed as a deputy sheriff assigned to work on the Gwinnett County Sheriff Office’s RRT inside the Gwinnett County Jail.
The RRT was a specialized unit which resolved high-risk incidents and provided general assistance in maintaining order in the jail, officials stated.
On August 20, 2018, Masters, without justification, is alleged to have repeatedly struck an inmate in the face with his closed fist, injuring her.
Following the assault, Masters wrote a report about the encounter in which he falsely claimed that the physical force was necessary to gain the inmate’s compliance.
Aaron S. Masters, 27, of Jefferson, Georgia, was indicted on January 14, 2020, for violating an inmate’s civil rights and for writing a false report.
The defendant is presumed innocent unless proven guilty.