Feds to recommend lesser sentence for ex-Muncie police officer for civil rights violation
MUNCIE, Ind. — Federal prosecutors will recommend a former Muncie police officer — who entered guilty pleas last week — receive a prison term at the lower end of a sentencing range.
On Friday, Jeremy Gibson, 31, pleaded guilty in U.S. District Court in Indianapolis to violating an arrestee's civil rights — by beating him — and then filing a false report about the 2018 incident.
Judge Tanya Walton Pratt set sentencing for Nov. 9.
Gibson's co-defendants — Muncie officers Chase Winkle and Corey Posey, and Joseph Krejsa, who since being arrested in the federal case two years ago has retired from the Muncie Police Department — are scheduled to stand trial Aug. 15 on charges stemming from the same federal investigation.
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The charges to which Gibson pleaded guilty were the result of the May 2018 arrest of Emanuel Montero, now 38, whose car was pulled over for having a non-operating headlight.
A federal lawsuit filed on Montero's behalf in 2020 alleged the Muncie man was not resisting arrest when officers — including Gibson and Winkle, according to court documents — began "punching, kicking and/or striking" him, and repeatedly shocked him with an electronic stun device.
The lawsuit said Montero's injuries included at least three broken ribs, fractures to facial bones and numerous "cuts and abrasions."
Gibson's plea agreement said Montero — identified in that document by his initials — was also hit in the head with "knee strikes" administered by Gibson and Winkle.
"The defendant knew that his and Officer Winkle's use of knee strikes to (Montero's) head were unjustified and unreasonable under the circumstances," Gibson's plea agreement said.
The document — signed by Gibson on March 28 — also said the Muncie officer "authored a false report" that claimed Montero had resisted arrest.
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The deal calls for federal prosecutors to "recommend a sentence at the low end of the advisory sentencing guidelines range." It does not predict what that sentencing range might be.
Several of the 17 charges filed by federal prosecutors in April 2021 involve allegations of Winkle attacking Montero and other arrestees.
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Posey and Krejsa are accused of filing false reports about Winkle's alleged "excessive force incidents."
Another former city police officer, Dalton Kurtz, also has pleaded guilty to failing to report Winkle's "inappropriate use of force." Kurtz has not yet been sentenced.
Winkle and Posey remain on administrative leave. Gibson was on leave before resigning from the MPD in March.
The charges stem from incidents that took place between March 2018 and February 2019, when Winkle's father, Joseph, was police chief.
The federal lawsuit filed by Montero was dismissed in April 2021, apparently after an out-of-court settlement.
Montero told an Indianapolis television station he was paid $250,000 to drop the suit.
The Muncie man was being held in the Henry County jail on Tuesday under a $90,000 surety bond and a $7,500 cash bond.
On April 26, Montero was charged with three counts of dealing in meth — all Level 2 felonies carrying maximum 30-year prison terms — in Henry Circuit Court 1. His trial on those charges is set for Aug. 29.
Douglas Walker is a news reporter for The Star Press. Contact him at 765-213-5851 or at dwalker@muncie.gannett.com.
This article originally appeared on Muncie Star Press: Lesser sentence recommended for ex-Muncie officer in civil rights case
