Racketeering Prison Inmate Charged with Assaulting a Correctional Officer

Erick Roman, 38, an inmate at the United States Penitentiary at Marion, Illinois, appeared today for arraignment in United States District Court in Benton on an indictment charging him with assaulting a correctional officer at that facility, Stephen R. Wigginton, United States Attorney for the Southern District of Illinois, announced today. The indictment, returned by a Federal Grand Jury on October 7, 2014, alleged that the offense occurred on August 20, 2014.

An indictment is a formal charge against a defendant. Under the law, a defendant is presumed to be innocent of a charge until proved guilty beyond a reasonable doubt to the satisfaction of a jury.

At the time of the assault, Roman was serving a 60 year sentence from the District of Maryland for conspiring to participate in a racketeering enterprise. If convicted of the assault offense, Roman faces up to an additional eight years in federal prison, a $250,000 fine, and three years of supervised release to follow his incarceration.

Following his arraignment, Roman was ordered held without bond and was returned to the custody of the Attorney General to await further proceedings. Roman’s next scheduled court appearance is a final pretrial conference on December 17, 2014, at 9:30 a.m. at the United States Courthouse in Benton. A trial date of December 29th at 9:00 a.m. was also set.