Corrections officers filled an Oneida County courtroom Tuesday morning for the appearance of a former Midstate Correctional Facility inmate who assaulted one of their own.
Chaz Robinson, 33, was charged with first-degree sexual abuse, unlawful imprisonment and second-degree assault for an ambush attack on a female corrections officer at Midstate Correctional Facility in Marcy on April 2, 2017. Officials say Robinson walked into the officer’s station with the blanket from his bed, threw it over the female officer’s head and then groped, mauled, punched and kicked her. She was able to get help after activating the emergency alert device on her radio.
In Oneida County Court on Tuesday, the results of Robinson’s psychiatric exam were shared. Doctors found him competent to stand trial, but it won’t make it that far, as Robinson pleaded guilty to one count of first-degree sexual abuse.
The corrections officer who was assaulted was in court Tuesday, along with several of her fellow officers, including a union official who said dangerous episodes like this one aren’t the exception – they’re the rule.
“It’s like this every day, at every facility. We deal with this on a daily basis,” said Scott Carpenter, Central Region vice president for the New York State Correctional Officers and Police Benevolent Association.
Robinson is currently serving a five-year prison sentence for a 2012 first-degree rape conviction in Monroe County. Following his attack on the officer at Midstate, Robinson was transferred to Five Points Correctional Facility.
Robinson is scheduled to be sentenced March 28 to six years in state prison for the April assault. He will also have to register as a sex offender and there will be a permanent order of protection in place for the corrections officer he assaulted.
In court today, the officer said that she’s glad it’s over, and she has since returned to work.
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