Local : Discipline Faced in Cross Burnings

Sheriff Sherman Block said today that a number of deputies are facing disciplinary action for their roles in two cross burnings at the Men’s Central Jail.

Block said an internal department investigation confirmed that the cross burnings occurred in an area of the jail where gang members were housed.

He said deputies implicated in the incidents--involving the burning of a wooden cross fashioned from a broom handle in 1987 and another in which a smaller paper cross was torched in late 1987 or early 1988--have received notices of pending disciplinary actions and have been reassigned to non-police administrative duties.

But Block, citing state law, said he was prevented from releasing specific details of the investigation, including the number of deputies facing discipline and the range of punishment.