Three inmates were arraigned after an attempted takeover at Southern State Correctional Facility in Springfield on Nov. 19.
Inmate Dakota Gardner, 29, pleaded not guilty to two counts of aggravated assault after he allegedly attacked a corrections officer with multiple deadly weapons, while inmates Arthur Crandall, 32, and Logan Wheeler, 43, pleaded guilty to simple assault for attacking another inmate.
Gardner is being held for lack of $50,000 bail and is set to appear in court again in about 30 days for a status conference. Wheeler and Crandall received 60-day sentences each.
Vermont State Police Detective Chris Blais said the attacks started after inmate Andrew Reynolds, 28, delivered a handwritten note to Gardner and Wheeler’s cell around 10 a.m.
“The corrections staff believe (the note) was a signal to go after the other prisoner,” Blais said in a phone interview. “It was something to do with an internal prisoner gang or group.”
Wheeler and Gardner unsecured their door when the upper and lower tiers of the prison switched for recreation time. Gardner ran to corrections officer George Neathawk, 53, with weapons affixed to his arms and struck the officer on the right side of his face with a bar of soap inside a sock, according to the affidavit. At the same time, Crandall and Wheeler ran toward Reynolds, knocked him to the ground and started kicking him, according to Blais’ affidavit.
Officer Neathawk tried to reach his radio for help but it had fallen off in the middle of the assault, according to the affidavit. Neathawk pushed Gardner away and pressed an emergency button, which set off an alarm in the prison’s control room. Gardner then struck Neathawk on the top of his head again with a sharp piece of plexiglass before corrections officer Shane Kelley, who was outside at the time, pepper sprayed Wheeler and Gardner to stop the assaults.
Southern State Correctional Facility Superintendent Michael Lyon said it was unclear why Gardner attacked Neathawk or why the attacks started at the same time.
“We couldn’t find solid evidence there was a plan to attack the officer,” Lyon said.
He said Neathawk, who worked at Southern State since 2004, returned to work shortly after he was medically cleared.
“The officer very admirably wanted to come back to work,” Lyon said.
All of the inmates involved were transferred to other prisons following the incident. Lyon said protocol for recreation time is under review. He said the number of inmates on recreation time, where inmates can work out, go outside and socialize, may be reduced from 25 at a time to eight.
All of the inmates involved are repeat offenders. Wheeler has a record of burglary and domestic assault. Crandall and Gardner are serving sentences for aggravated domestic assault.
Gardner also served a federal sentence after he threatened to capture Gov. Peter Shumlin with his wife and children, threatened to injure an employee of the Social Security Administration in Rutland and threatened to kill the president of the United States through a letter in January 2012.
Gardner could be imprisoned up to 16 years, fined $10,000 or both if convicted.
