Man pleads guilty in prison incidents
A Clarion man pleaded guilty to three cases in Butler County Court on Tuesday, including allegations of assaulting a prison guard, damaging his prison cell and lying to police while imprisoned in the county jail.
Charles W. Burgess Jr., 23, pleaded guilty to felony aggravated harassment by a prisoner, misdemeanor institutional vandalism and unsworn falsification to law enforcement before Judge William Shaffer.
The plea agreement calls for a sentence of 12 to 36 months on the felony charge, and four to 12 months on the other two charges, with the judge deciding at sentencing if they will run consecutive or concurrent. This could mean he spends 12-36 months in jail if run concurrent, or 20-50 months if consecutive.
He is scheduled for sentencing on Sept. 7.
Burgess had been in the Butler County Prison since Oct. 21, having first served a sentence in a felony shoplifting case, officials said. During that time, authorities said Burgess provided a false written statement accusing two other inmates of forcing him to perform sex acts on them twice between Nov. 21 and 25.
The accused inmates denied wrongdoing, according to court documents. Burgess' cell mate and video surveillance also contradicted Burgess' accusations.
When confronted by police, documents said, he “admitted that he had made up the incident so that he could get moved to another pod in the prison.”
The felony charge stems from an incident on Jan. 17, when Butler County detectives say Burgess spit in the face of a correctional officer during a disturbance in his cell.
Guards confronted Burgess for being disruptive, including repeatedly kicking the cell door and when two officers tried to remove him, he resisted, according to court documents. He eventually spit saliva in one of the guard's faces.
The institutional vandalism charge stems from an incident on Jan. 31 at the prison, where Burgess allegedly broke off a sprinkler head, which allowed his cell to flood with water.
Prison staff told investigators that Burgess committed the vandalism “at the urging of other inmates,” according to court documents.
Authorities said after the sprinkler head was severed, the water to the prison's fire suppression system had to be shut off, “causing the entire system to be inoperable,” documents said, thereby placing all inmates and employees in danger.
The vandalism caused $148.50 in damage.
