MORGANTOWN, W,Va. – The Monongalia County sheriff’s deputy facing federal criminal charges will be arraigned in federal court Thursday.
Deputy Lance Kuretza is free on bail after being charged with excessive use of force, violating the civil rights of a suspect and falsifying an official report of the incident.
U. S. Attorney for the Northern West Virginia Bill Ilhenfeld said these types of cases are very difficult and time consuming. He said the physical and video evidence must be carefully compared with interviews from witnesses and suspects to accurately piece together what happened.
“The Monongalia County Sheriff’s Department has been very cooperative throughout this process,” Ihlenfeld said during a Monday appearance on MetroNews “Talkline.” “Once we saw the evidence and interviewed the witnesses we knew this case had to be charged.”
The Monongalia County Prosecutor’s Office decided not to pursue state charges.
Deputy Kuretza and six others responded to a disturbance at the Residence Inn Jan. 20, 2018. An investigation at the scene determined none of the suspects broke laws or would be arrested, but management asked they be escorted from the property.
“The video really speaks for itself, there’s a lot of it and that’s why body cams are so important and we have a lot of it in this case,” Ihlenfeld said.
What is the latest on the case regarding Lance Kuretza, a Monongalia County Sheriff? Kuretza allegedly assaulted and pepper-sprayed a suspect during a January 2018 incident. @IhlenfeldWV provides the latest to @HoppyKercheval. WATCH: https://t.co/yCFQ3nDJuy pic.twitter.com/SS66qcV9pF
— MetroNews (@WVMetroNews) August 22, 2022
As the group exited the floor, Kuretza ordered one of the guests to open the door to a nearby room where he found a man sleeping. Kuretza then allegedly began to shake the man and hit his feet to wake him up. When the guest explained he was sleeping, Kuretza threw him off the bed and beat him, investigators said. As the contact escalated, Kuretza restrained the guest as the six other officers were in the room.
“This particular victim had a flashlight in his face and thought it was his friends just messing around with him,” Ihlenfeld said. “It turned out it was a sheriff’s deputy and from there it really got out of control.”
According to Ihlenfeld, Kuretza battered and used pepper spray on the victim while handcuffed. While the suspect was being taken out of the property Kuretza allegedly continued to use unnecessary force.
“The report that was filed after this did not indicate the pepper spray had been deployed after handcuffs were used, in fact it said pepper spray was deployed before handcuffs were used,” Ihlenfeld said. “Which was not consistent with the video evidence we have.”
Ihlenfeld said the group was disorderly and did comply with police. Some level of force is needed to quell a disturbance and maintain safety of the public at-large, but this victim did not require the level of force used to gain compliance.
“This was a case where force was used after the situation was under control, after someone was restrained, in custody and not a threat,” Ihlenfeld said.
Kuretza will be arraigned before a federal magistrate judge in Clarksburg Thursday.
A civil lawsuit has also been filed against Kuretza, the six unnamed deputies, the Monongalia County Commission and the Monongalia County Sheriff’s Department.