Correctional officer caught giving out his baton to inmate who stabbed her boyfriend

Correctional officer caught giving out his baton to inmate who stabbed who her boyfriend



Ex-jail officer surrenders over report that hid sex with inmate - NY Daily News

Edgar Sandoval

A former corrections officer at a women’s prison who resigned amid a sex scandal surrendered Wednesday afternoon to face charges he fudged an incident report after his affair with an inmate who stabbed her boyfriend in 2012 was discovered, the Daily News has learned.

Ruben Illa, 34, turned himself in to state authorities for filing a false report in connection with a Dec. 2, 2015, writeup that said 27-year-old Yekaterina Pusepa was “out of place” at the Bedford Hills Correctional Facility in Westchester County, where the two were having their affair.

Illa is expected to admit he falsely reported Pusepa in an “Inmate Misbehavior Report” of being in the prison’s medical unit without permission.




In reality, they had arranged to meet there — it was the unit Illa was assigned to, Pusepa told the Daily News last week.

Illa admitted in court papers he “summoned” Pusepa to the medical ward, making it a lie that she was there without authorization.

“I did not want my supervisors to discover that I was the person who summoned the inmate to the prison’s Regional Medical Unit,” the ex-officer admitted in the signed document.

Under state law, sex by a guard with an inmate is considered rape because a person in custody is not capable of consent.

It was not immediately clear why the New York State Attorney General’s Office, which is handling Illa’s prosecution, did not seek additional charges.

The investigation began with the Office of Special Investigations, which referred the case to the AG’s office. The office did not have a comment prior to the surrender.

Illa is expected to be arraigned Wednesday evening. His plea agreement will be finalized at a later date and prosecutors are expected to recommend probation.

“This is an isolated incident in an otherwise untarnished career,” said Illa’s attorney, Matthew Gartenberg.

Illa kissed his wife before getting out of his car at the New York State Police barracks in Somers. Two detectives slapped handcuffs on him and took him away.



Illa’s wife drove off off in a black car with a bumper sticker that read, “Dead men tell no tales.”

Pusepa told the Daily News she was in love with the former corrections officer and that she agreed she would protect him if they got caught.

She said she spent eight months in solitary confinement for refusing to cooperate with authorities although, officially, she was being punished for the incident he wrote her up on.

“I told him if anything happened he’d have nothing to worry about,” she said.

Pusepa said she was later stunned to learn Illa got married and had a child, and she said he was having sex with another inmate.:dead:

Ruben Illa, 34, turned himself in to state authorities for filing a false report that said a 27-year-old inmate was “out of place” at the Bedford Hills Correctional Facility in Westchester County.




Pusepa is due to be released on parole in about two years, considering good behavior time and having served a chunk of the 8 ½-year sentence handed down for attempted murder and assault by a sympathetic judge in 2014.

Pusepa, a Latvian native, convinced the jurist, Marcy Kahn, she was the victim of domestic violence in her relationship with the boyfriend she attacked, Alec Katsnelson.

Pusepa argued she plunged a kitchen knife into his chest in self-defense.






Illa, she said, discussed being with her upon her release from prison — which she was hurt to learn was a lie.

She said she protected their secret regardless because she promised to and now wishes him well.




Now, she’s “completely over him” and looking forward to her release. The inmate is working on her college degree behind bars and has hopes of helping domestic violence victims.

Illa resigned from his $52,533-a-year post in September, sources said.




http://www.nydailynews.com/new-york...nders-report-hid-sex-inmate-article-1.3321513