ST. CROIX — A federal judge has sentenced two former correctional officers at the John A. Bell Correctional Facility who were convicted last year for their roles in assaulting a pretrial detainee and attempting to cover it up through falsified reports, according to court documents.
Elvin Bloice and Maxwell Bryan were found guilty by a District Court jury on April 24, 2024 after a retrial stemming from a 2021 incident in which detainee Troy Hazell was assaulted.
According to evidence presented at trial, on September 17, 2021, Bryan physically assaulted Hazell after he refused to return to his cell, punching him and choking him inside the cell, according to the U.S. Attorney’s Office, which issued a statement the day after the trial concluded. Bloice, who was standing at the door, partially closed it to obstruct surveillance footage. The attack was allegedly in retaliation for an earlier incident in which the detainee kicked the door of Bryan’s personal vehicle.
After the incident, both officers submitted false reports to the Virgin Islands Bureau of Corrections, claiming the detainee was not harmed and omitting any mention of force. Bryan wrote that he merely lifted and escorted the inmate, while Bloice echoed a similar account.
Both officers were convicted of depriving the detainee of his rights under color of law, and falsification of records in a federal investigation. Bloice was also found guilty of making materially false statements to the FBI after he denied during an October 4, 2021 interview that the assault had occurred.
“The United States Attorney’s Office is committed to upholding the civil and constitutional rights of all citizens, including inmates who must rely on correctional officers to protect them,” then-U.S. Attorney Delia Smith said in a statement issued following the conviction. “This case warranted attention from the Department of Justice because of the color of law violations that makes it a crime for anyone to abuse their legal power or authority to deprive another of their rights.”
District Judge Wilma Lewis sentenced Bloice and Bryan on July 1.
Bloice was sentenced to three years of probation, including eight months of home detention with electronic monitoring. He must pay a $1,000 fine and a $125 special assessment.
Bryan received a 21-month prison sentence, along with a $2,000 fine and a $125 special assessment. He will be placed on three years of supervised release following his incarceration.
Bryan and Bloice were originally tried in 2023. That case ended in a mistrial on October 2, 2023 after the jury failed to reach a unanimous verdict.
Hazell, the detainee, was arrested August 23, 2021, following a domestic dispute during which he allegedly fired a gun into the air while arguing with a neighbor. However, the allegation was never proven, and Hazell’s criminal case was dismissed with prejudice on December 2, 2022.
During sentencing, the court recommended that Bryan serve his sentence at Federal Prison Camp in Montgomery, Alabama. He was ordered to surrender to the Bureau of Prisons by 9 a.m. on August 4.
On Monday, Bryan notified the court that he had not yet received a facility designation from the Bureau of Prisons. The BOP typically begins its designation process upon receiving the judgment and other required documents. The judgment in Bryan’s case was issued on July 23.
While the BOP generally completes the process within five to eight days of receiving all documents, the timeline is not guaranteed. Bryan has requested that the court allow him additional time to surrender directly to his designated facility. As of publication, the court had not responded to the request.
This case was investigated by the FBI and prosecuted by U.S. Attorneys Evan Rikhye and Dan Huston. Deputy Chief Forrest Christian, of the U.S. Department of Justice’s Civil Rights Division, provided invaluable assistance in the prosecution of this case.
