Mississippi cops who called themselves the Goon Squad had a group chat where they shared images of corpses and discussed how to humiliate and assault suspects.
In the private WhatsApp group that included their supervisor, Rankin County sheriff's deputies exchanged images of suspects and victims and joked about rape and Tasering people, as reported by The New York Times.
Six officers from the department have been sentenced to decades in prison on state and federal chargesfor torturing two Black men,Michael Jenkins and Eddie Parker,after bursting into a Mississippi home in January 2023.
At least nine of the officers are still employed at theRankin County sheriff's office.Most of the cops in the chat have not been charged with any crimes or accused of any illegal behavior. They told the NYT their comments were jokes.
The cops used the chat for years to discuss how to humiliate and brutalize suspects, goading each other to assault and shame addicts and people accused of crimes as well as to shock people in the genitals with Tasers.
In the private WhatsApp group that included their now convicted supervisor, Lt. Jeffrey Middleton, Rankin County sheriff's deputies joked about rape and Tasering people
The deputies had been calling themselves the moniker since at least 2019, and in 2020 discussed creating a commemorative token for themselves
The messages included racist comments about Mexicans and memes depicting women as sex objects. The deputies also talked about taking naked images of a woman they had arrested.
One cop shared a video of a deputy defecating on someone's bed.
When they encountered someone who died by suicide, homicide or an accident, they shared images of the corpses and joked about having sex with them.
In May of 2022, deputy Zachary Cotton shared a picture of a man's body decomposing in an impoverished neighborhood, prompting his colleague Hunter Cook to reply: 'That's hot.'
'Poke him with a stick,' added Lt. Jeffrey Middleton, the group's supervisor, now serving 17 years in prison.
The group once discussed a man arrested on suspicion of domestic violence, with Hunter Elrward asking: 'Did you Tase him in the face!?'
Daniel Opdyke, now in prison,asked if they had shocked the man in the anus.
Daniel Opdyke, now in prison, asked his colleagues in the chat if they had shocked a suspect in the anus
The group once discussed a man arrested on suspicion of domestic violence, with Hunter Elrward asking: 'Did you Tase him in the face!?'. In a mock execution gone awry, Elward shot Jenkins in the mouth, lacerating his tongue and breaking his jaw
Cook replied that had the area been more secluded, the suspect would have 'gotten more lovings.'
He told the NYT he was aggravated because the suspect was accused of child abuse, adding: 'I didn't do anything that was illegal or anything like that to him.'
When asked about the exchange, Cook, who is no longer in law enforcement, told the NYT: 'We see dead bodies all the time... That's kind of how we deal with stuff.'
Cook added that if he had known some of his colleagues were torturing people, he 'wouldn't have made jokes like that.'
Cotton, who still works at the department, said: 'It's not against the law. I didn't make any vulgar comments about it.'
In a November 2019 exchange, the cops suggested turning their job into a game: one point per every arrest. Deputy Cody Grogan then asked the group how many points he would get for shooting someone.
Lt Middleton replied: 'Depends if they die or not.'
Deputy Luke Stickman wrote: 'They'll die.'
'They die,' Grogan agreed.
Grogan, who does not work at the department anymore, told the the messages were jokes and 'People that know me know that's not going to happen. I'm not going to go out and shoot anybody.'
Prosecutors said the convicted corrupt cops used the WhatsApp chat to plan the 2023 raid where they tortured Jenkins and Parker.
Sheriff Bryan Bailey has claimed he did not know about the Goon Squad name or allegations of violence against his deputies.
The deputies had been calling themselves the moniker since at least 2019, and in 2020 discussed creating acommemorative token for themselves.
Middleton suggested the coin feature images of a noose and a Confederate flag.
The same year the group texted about what to do with a hit-and-run suspect, with Grogan offering a quote by the department's then-chief investigator Brett McAlpin, who prosecutors said was the squad's ring leader and is now in prison.
The officers charged in relation to the assault of Michael Corey Jenkins and Eddie Terrell Parker were (Top L-R) Brett McAlpin, Jeffrey Middleton, Christian Dedmon. (Bottom L-R) Hunter Elward, Daniel Opdyke, Joshua Hartfield
'Nothing scares a man like kidnapping him' — Brett McAlpin,' Gorgan wrote.
The cops then joked about killing the man and burying him in Grogan's home.
In another 2020 exchange, two deputies asked Middleton if they could beat a man suspected of exposing himself to women.
'That's fine just justify it good in your report,' Lieutenant Middleton replied.
The six former officers who attackedJenkins and Parker were sentenced in March to federal prison terms ranging from about 10 to 40 years.
Michael Corey Jenkins, left, and Eddie Terrell Parker, foreground, two victims of racially motivated torture by six former Mississippi law enforcement officers
Michael Corey Jenkins in hospital after being shot in the mouth during the assault
District Judge Tom Lee called their actions 'egregious and despicable' as he gave sentences near the top of the federal guidelines to five of the six men.
The defendants include five former Rankin County sheriff's deputies — Brett McAlpin, 53; Elward, 31; Christian Dedmon, 29; Middleton, 46; and Opdyke, 28 — and a former police officer from the city of Richland, Joshua Hartfield, 32, who was off duty during the assault.
All six of the former officers pleaded guilty to state charges of conspiracy to hinder prosecution. They were sentenced on multiple counts ranging from five to 20 years. Elward admitted to aggravated assault, and was sentenced to 20 years alongside punishments for burglary and conspiracy.
The charges followed an Associated Press investigation in March 2023 that linked some of the officers to at least four violent encounters since 2019 that left two Black men dead.
Michael Corey Jenkins, left, and Eddie Terrell Parker, right, stand with lead attorney Malik Shabazz, as they call on a federal judge to impose the harshest possible penalties
The terror began on January 24, 2023, with a racist call for extrajudicial violence, according to federal prosecutors.
A white person phoned McAlpin and complained that two Black men were staying with a white woman at a house in Braxton, Mississippi. McAlpin told Dedmon, who texted 'The Goon Squad.'
Once inside, they handcuffed Jenkins and his friend Parker and poured milk, alcohol and chocolate syrup over their faces while mocking them with racial slurs. They forced them to strip naked and shower together to conceal the mess. They mocked the victims with racial slurs and assaulted them with sex objects.
In a mock execution gone awry, Elward shot Jenkins in the mouth, lacerating his tongue and breaking his jaw. The officers devised a coverup and agreed to plant drugs on Jenkins and Parker. False charges stood against the men for months.
