Ex-Guard Says 4 Men Set Up Rape of Inmate

A former guard at Corcoran State Prison implicated four officers in a setup rape of an inmate troublemaker, testifying Wednesday that the officers were well aware that the inmate was being locked in the cell of a notorious sexual predator.

In the most pivotal testimony yet in the 3-week-old criminal trial in Kings County, former guard Roscoe Pondexter pointed the finger at his one-time mentor and three other officers whom he said he once considered loyal and trusted co-workers.

Pondexter told jurors that in the days before and after inmate Eddie Dillard was raped he talked with two of the accused officers about Corcoran’s so-called Booty Bandit. Pondexter said they discussed inmate Wayne Robertson’s history of sexually assaulting cellmates half his size.

The four guards have denied knowing Robertson’s reputation and deliberately placing Dillard in jeopardy during the three days the two prisoners shared a cell.

Pondexter testified that the Booty Bandit’s reputation--and the danger he posed--was common knowledge inside the prison’s Security Housing Unit. Dillard, who had kicked a female officer at another prison, and Robertson were documented enemies. This should have precluded them from sharing a cell.

“I wondered why [Dillard] would be in the cell with Robertson,” Pondexter testified. “It was just glaring that he would be in there. . . . Robertson was a known sexual predator.”

When he asked about the cell move, Pondexter said, three of the four officers each gave him the same answer. He said Sgt. Robert Decker, 41, and Officers Joe Sanchez, 38, and Dale Brakebill, 34, told him: “Dillard is a staff assaulter and a loudmouth punk.”

Those officers, along with Sgt. Anthony Sylva, 36, are accused of aiding and abetting the rape of Dillard in March 1993. This is the first brutality trial of guards at the notorious San Joaquin Valley prison in nearly a decade.

The officers were charged last year after Pondexter was fired from the prison for his own brutal acts and then detailed the rape and alleged cover-up to the Los Angeles Times.

Pondexter, a 6-foot, 6-inch, 270-pound former all-American college basketball player, captivated the jury Wednesday with his deep James Earl Jones-like voice.

Known as the bone-crusher for his willingness to get rough with inmates, Pondexter said he was silent about the rape for five years and did not speak out until after his firing in 1996.

“I was loyal to the officers involved in it,” Pondexter testified. “I felt that if one of them gets in trouble, we’d all get in trouble.”

In exchange for his testimony, Pondexter has received immunity from prosecution.

In cross-examination Wednesday afternoon, defense attorneys attacked Pondexter’s credibility, pointing out inconsistencies between what the former guard told the grand jury last year and what he is now saying in court.

Attorney Curtis Sisk, who represents Decker, suggested that Pondexter was lying when he told the grand jury and a Times reporter that he was on duty the day Dillard was moved to Robertson’s cell. Sisk introduced employment records indicating that Pondexter had the day off.

When questioned by another defense lawyer, Katherine Hart, Pondexter conceded that dishonesty was one of the reasons for his dismissal--for failing to disclose his full role in using force on inmates.

Pondexter repeatedly said he resigned under pressure from the Department of Corrections rather than be fired. But Hart, who represents Brakebill, produced documents showing that Pondexter was terminated.

Defense lawyers also disputed Pondexter’s contention that his “good character” landed him his current job at Cal State Fresno, mentoring basketball players from the inner city. Hart suggested that it wasn’t Pondexter’s good character that got him hired but coach Jerry Tarkanian’s habit of trying to rehabilitate troubled athletes.

Earlier Wednesday, Pondexter said he recognized a prison document that prosecutors consider a smoking gun against Decker, his former boss and mentor. The 1991 internal prison file described Robertson as a “cellie raper” and was signed by Decker.

Pondexter said Robertson stated numerous times to him and other officers his desire to have young, small inmates placed in his cell for his sexual pleasure and their punishment.

“If you have a problem with an inmate, put him in a cell with me and I’ll take care of it,” Pondexter quoted Robertson as saying.

Robertson, who says he sexually assaulted Dillard, then 23, and a dozen other inmates as a favor to prison staff, is expected to testify next week.