Official Admits Beating Covered Up At Angola

BATON ROUGE, La. (AP) — A former major at the Louisiana State Penitentiary at Angola admitted in Baton Rouge federal court that he falsified records to obstruct a federal investigation of an inmate beating by other officers.

The Advocate reports (http://bit.ly/Wb839V ) 45-year-old Kevin L. Groom Sr. also pleaded guilty Thursday to a charge that he made a false statement to FBI agents investigating the beating.

No other names are contained in Groom's charges, which were sealed by court order on Nov. 26. U.S. District Judge James J. Brady ordered the charges unsealed on Wednesday.

According to the unsealed court record, Groom witnessed the beating in January 2010 of an inmate identified only as "R.M."

The charges to which Groom pleaded guilty carry combined penalties totaling as much as 25 years in prison.