Correction officer from LI charged in inmate assault

A correction officer from Bellport was arrested Friday and charged with assaulting an inmate on Rikers Island and filing false reports to cover up the incident, officials said.

Victor Rodman, 49, with nearly 25 years with the New York City Correction Department, was charged with assault, offering a false instrument for filing, falsifying business records and official misconduct.

Michelle Hubert, 43, of New York City, another correction officer, was arrested in connection with the same incident on charges of offering a false instrument for filing, falsifying business records and official misconduct.

"These defendants are charged in a disturbing inmate assault and cover-up, betraying their integrity and the city's trust in them," said Rose Gill Hearn, the city's Department of Investigations commissioner.

Rodman and Hubert could not be reached for comment.

Investigators said Rodman visited Hubert in July 2009 at her assigned location at the George R. Vierno Center, a men's maximum-security facility.

A fight broke out between inmates at that time, and Rodman, who was not authorized to be in the area, struck one of the inmates, breaking the inmate's nose and causing permanent vision loss in one eye, investigators said.

Rodman, supported by Hubert, initially denied being in the area at the time. He later conceded he was there, but denied using force against the inmate.

Rodman and Hubert, who each earn $76,000 a year, were suspended Friday without pay.

If convicted, Rodman could face up to seven years in prison on the most serious assault charge.