Date: 09-13-2018

Case Style:

Case Number: 3:18-cr-00145

Judge: Waverly D. Crenshaw, Jr.

Court: United States District Court for the Middle District of Tennessee (Davidson County)

Plaintiff's Attorney: Sara Beth Meyers and Michael J. Songer

Defendant's Attorney: Mike Flanagan

Description: Nashville, TN - Tennessee Jail Supervisor Pleads Guilty to Making False Statements to the FBI

Gary Ola, 54, a sergeant at the Cheatham County Jail in Ashland City, Tennessee, pleaded guilty on September 11, 2018 to two counts of making false statements to FBI agents.

Ola was indicted on June 26 and the charges resulted from false statements about his knowledge of an incident in which another corrections officer used a Taser to stun a restrained detainee inside the Cheatham County Jail. The other corrections officer was charged in a separate indictment with two counts of deprivation of rights under color of law and two counts of obstruction of justice and his trial is set for early 2019. He is presumed innocent until proven guilty.

In his plea agreement, Ola admitted to making false statements during two separate interviews with federal agents investigating the Taser incident. In the first interview in August 2017, Ola falsely told agents with the FBI and the Tennessee Bureau of Investigation that, after he helped secure a detainee in a restraint chair in the Cheatham County Jail on Nov. 5, 2016, he walked away and did not see another corrections officer deploy a Taser and stun the detainee. In a second interview with the FBI in May 2018, the Ola stated that he did not see the corrections officer stun the detainee after officers placed the detainee in handcuffs. Ola admitted that he made these false statements because he feared retaliation if he reported that the corrections officer had used his Taser in violation of the jail’s policy and training.

Ola faces a maximum sentence of five years in prison and a $250,000 fine on each count.

This case was investigated by the FBI and the Tennessee Bureau of Investigation.

Charge:

Indictment 6/20/18: 18:1001 False statements to a federal investigator
(1-2)

Elements of 18 U.S.C. § 1001

Section 1001's statutory terms are violated if someone:

"falsifies, conceals or covers up by any trick, scheme or device a material fact,"
"makes any false, fictitious or fraudulent statements or representations,"
"makes or uses any false writing or document knowing the same to contain any false, fictitious or fraudulent statement or entry"
and, for cases arising after the 1996 amendments, the item at issue was material.

Whether the above acts are criminal depends on whether there is an affirmative response to each of the following questions:

Was the act or statement material?
Was the act within the jurisdiction of a department or agency of the United States? and
Was the act done knowingly and willfully?

Outcome: Guilty

Plaintiff's Experts:

Defendant's Experts:

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