Mississippi “Goon Squad” Cops Plead Guilty to Racist Dildo and Taser Attacks

A group of current and former Mississippi law enforcement officers calling themselves the Goon Squad pleaded guilty to the torture and physical abuse of three men that involved the repeated use of a taser, oral and anal assault with a dildo, and a mock execution that left one of the victims injured with a gunshot wound to the neck.

Five former members of the Rankin County, Mississippi, Sheriff’s Office (RCSO) – Chief Investigator Brett McAlpin, 52, Narcotics Investigator Christian Dedmon, 28, Lieutenant Jeffrey Middleton, 46, Deputy Hunter Elward, 31, Deputy Daniel Opdyke, 27 – and one former member of the Richland, Mississippi, Police Department – Narcotics Investigator Joshua Hartfield, 31 – pleaded guilty to all charges against them in a federal courtroom earlier this month.

“The defendants in this case tortured and inflicted unspeakable harm on their victims, egregiously violated the civil rights of citizens who they were supposed to protect, and shamefully betrayed the oath they swore as law enforcement officers,” Attorney General Merrick B. Garland said in a statement. “The Justice Department will hold accountable officers who abuse the public trust that is essential to public safety.”

The charges arose from two separate incidents and included civil rights conspiracy, deprivation of rights under color of law, discharge of a firearm during a crime of violence, conspiracy to obstruct justice, and obstruction of justice.

In one of the incidents, officers entered the home of Michael Corey Jenkins and Eddie Terrell Parker in Braxton on January 24 without a warrant or probable cause. Officers handcuffed the two men and attempted to beat and torture a confession from them. The white officers used racial slurs, told the two Black victims they were not welcome in town because of their race, and advised them to leave as they were beaten. The corrupt officers found a dildo behind a locked door during a search of the residence and used it to penetrate the two victims.

At the conclusion of the incident, Elward put a gun with an empty chamber in Jenkins’s mouth and pulled the trigger. When he did it a second time, the gun accidentally discharged, tearing through the handcuffed victim’s tongue and exiting through his neck. As Jenkins lay bleeding on the floor, the men of the goon squad gathered outside and discussed how to cover up their crime and frame the two men.

“No human being should ever be subjected to the kind of torturous, traumatizing and horrific acts of violence that were carried out by these law enforcement officers,” Assistant Attorney General Kristen Clarke of the Justice Department’s Civil Rights Division said. “The physical and emotional impact of their crimes resulted from a calculated, deliberate, and egregious course of conduct that required a significant response from authorities. The Justice Department will continue to investigate and prosecute law enforcement officers who violate the public trust by abusing the power given to them by virtue of their position.”

Local NBC affiliate WLBT reported that the officers also repeatedly tased the victims to settle a dispute over who had the most effective taser.

The officers later admitted to destroying evidence of their crime, planting evidence, filing false reports, and filing false charges including drug possession, assault on a police officer, and disorderly conduct. All charges against the two men were later dropped.

The other incident took place on December 4 last year where Dedmon beat and tased a man and then fired a gun near his head to coerce a confession, while Elward and Opdyke watched and did not stop him.

The men each face decades in prison and fines of hundreds of thousands of dollars. They will be sentenced in November.

(Pictured above is victim Michael Corey Jenkins.)