Ex-sheriff gets 4-year prison term for assaulting 2 inmates

FORT SMITH, Ark. (AP) — A former Arkansas sheriff was sentenced to four years in prison Thursday after a federal jury convicted him of assaulting two jail inmates, prosecutors said.

Former Franklin County sheriff Anthony Boen, 51, was sentenced in a Fort Smith federal court after his conviction on two counts of depriving inmates of civil rights in 2018. He also was sentenced to two years of supervised release after completing his prison term and fined $4,800.

Trial evidence showed Boen had punched a detainee in the head multiple times as the shackled detainee sat on the floor in December 2018. Boen went to the detainee’s cell a few minutes later and punched him again before spitting on him.

The month before, Boen slammed a detainee into the floor and tore at his hair during interrogation, according to trial evidence.

When the events were investigated, Boen pressured deputies who witnessed the assaults not to give truthful accounts of them to investigators, according to testimony.

Boen’s attorney, Russell Wood, had sought a prison sentence of no more than two years. A message to Wood for comment was not immediately returned.