Southern Regional Jail in Beaver, W.Va. (Chris Jackson | West Virginia Watch)
A former West Virginia prison guard was convicted earlier this week on charges related to the 2022 death of an inmate at Southern Regional Jail in Raleigh County.
After a four-day trial, a federal jury on Monday found Chad Lester, 35, of Odd, West Virginia, guilty of conspiracy to engage in witness tampering, witness tampering and making false statements in the death of an inmate identified as Q.B., according to a news release by the U.S. Department of Justice.
Quantez Burks, 37, reportedly died March 1, 2022, one day after he was booked at the jail in Beaver on charges of wanton endangerment and obstructing an officer.
Federal officials say correctional officers retaliated against Burks for trying to push past an officer and leave his assigned pod by bringing Burks to an area of the prison without surveillance cameras and beating him.
Five other former correctional officers were charged related to the assault and pleaded guilty. Prior to the indictment, two other officers pleaded guilty to charges related to the assault.
According to the news release, Lester told other correctional officers to lie in their incident reports and leave out relevant, truthful information. He retaliated against officers suspected of giving truthful information about the assault and threatened that he would assault anyone who gave the FBI truthful information about the assault.
In the release, United States Attorney Will Thompson called Lester the “ringleader” of the effort to cover up the assault.
“He obviously failed at that,” Thompson said. “I grew up with a strong sense of conviction to protect people who were being taken advantage of by people who were stronger, more powerful or smarter than they were. I always felt that if I could make things right, I should. This is a case where I got that opportunity, with the assistance of the investigators, the trial team and all those who helped hold Mr. Lester and the other defendants accountable.”
Lester is scheduled to be sentenced April 16. He faces up to 45 years in prison.
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