NEW YORK – A sergeant with the Fulton Police Department plead guilty Wednesday in federal court of deprivation of rights under the color of law for beating a handcuffed man inside the Fulton police station, officials said.
Joseph Arigo, 47, a sergeant with the Fulton Police Department in Fulton, New York, pleaded guilty today in federal court to one count of deprivation of rights under color of law for beating a handcuffed man inside the Fulton police station.
Sentencing is set for Jan. 23 and Arigo faces a maximum sentence of 10 years in prison, officials said.
According to court documents filed in connection with his guilty plea, Arigo was sitting at the sergeant’s desk on June 28, 2014, when a handcuffed man, Gary E. Bloss was brought into the police station.
Bloss was yelling, but was not physically threatening any officers or himself. Arigo pulled the video camera out of the wall to stop it from recording, walked into the room where G.B. was being held and shoved his head into the bench.
Bloss, was punched eight times, suffered a cut above his right eye that required seven stitches to close and lost consciousness, according to court documents.
After the incident, Arigo lied to his supervisors as well as in two official reports in an attempt to conceal his actions.