(Stillwater, Okla.) – A former Cushing prison inmate, who is now being held in the Oklahoma State Penitentiary in McAlester, has been ordered to appear in Payne County District Court on April 15 for a preliminary hearing on a charge of repeatedly punching a guard in the face at the Cimarron Correctional Facility.
Jacob Tyson Gonsalves, 21, who is serving a seven-year prison term for escape from arrest or detention and second-degree burglary, both in McCurtain County in 2011, could receive as much as an additional 10-year sentence if convicted of the attack on the Cushing guard, court records show.
Video surveillance from the private prison in Cushing showed that Gonsalves punched at the guard approximately 15 times with his right arm in the area of the head, face and torso, Cushing Police Officer Rachel Hentges alleged in an affidavit.
A minute after the incident began at 5:16 p.m. on July 20, 2014, “another guard approached and appeared to spray Gonsalves with pepper spray,” the affidavit alleged.
Gonsalves did not stop fighting the guard until the guard took him to the ground and other guards were able to help subdue him, the affidavit alleged.
The guard told the Cushing police officer that he was in the dining hall “when he observed Offender Jacob Gonsalves looking inappropriately at a female guard,” according to the affidavit.
The guard said that “he escorted Gonsalves out of the dining hall and spoke to him about his behavior,” the affidavit alleged.
The guard reported “Gonsalves became angry so he attempted to restrain him using handcuffs,” the affidavit alleged.
The guard said he put handcuffs on Gonsalves’ left wrist and “was attempting to handcuff the right hand when Gonsalves punched him in the face,” the affidavit alleged.
The guard said “during the struggle, he maintained his hold on the handcuffs on Gonsalves’ wrist while Gonsalves struck him repeatedly in the face and head,” the affidavit alleged.
The guard “reported the response team arrived and subdued Gonsalves using chemical agents and physical restraints,” the affidavit alleged.
“I observed multiple minor injuries,” on the guard, including a small cut on the right side of his nose, a large cut above his right eye and several small cuts around the inside of his left eye and on his nose, the Cushing police officer wrote in her affidavit.
The Cushing officer also saw a series of abrasions on the guard’s scalp on the right side above the temple area and extending to the crown of his head, the affidavit said.
“I also observed two raised and apparently swollen areas near the base of his head on the left and right sides.
“There were also several red marks on the right side of the (guard’s) head which were similar in size, color and shape,” the Cushing officer wrote in her affidavit.
Corrections Corporation of America Investigator Joseph Sebenick wrote in a report that he interviewed Gonsalves, who admitted he assaulted the guard “by striking him three or four times,” the affidavit alleged.
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