Former Tuscaloosa Police Sergeant Charged with Civil Rights Violations
| U.S. Department of Justice May 31, 2012 |
WASHINGTON—A federal grand jury in Birmingham, Alabama today returned a five-count indictment charging former city of Tuscaloosa Police Sergeant Jason Glenn Thomas with federal civil rights offenses in connection with the aggravated sexual assault of a Tuscaloosa woman in 2011, announced Thomas E. Perez, Assistant Attorney General for the Civil Rights Division; Joyce White Vance, U.S. Attorney for the Northern District of Alabama; and Patrick J. Maley, Special Agent in Charge of the FBI Birmingham Field Office.
Thomas is charged with violating the constitutional rights of a Tuscaloosa woman by sexually assaulting her in March 2011. The indictment also charges Thomas with obstruction of justice based upon misleading statements that he provided to law enforcement officers during the investigation of the sexual assault allegations.
Thomas faces a possible maximum sentence of life in prison and a fine in excess of $1 million.
This case is being investigated by the Tuscaloosa Resident Agency of the FBI’s Birmingham Field Office and is being prosecuted by Trial Attorney D.W. Tunnage of the Justice Department’s Civil Rights Division, along with Assistant U.S. Attorney George Martin for the District of Alabama.
An indictment is merely an accusation, and the defendant is presumed innocent unless proven guilty.