| MCC Staff Akparanta Pled To
Sex Abuse Of Prisoners OK-ed to Take Bus To
Butner April 23
By Matthew
Russell Lee, Exclusive,
video
SDNY COURTHOUSE,
April 2 – When Colin Akparanta
was brought in shackles,
accused of sexually abusing
female prisoners under his
control in the Metropolitan
Correctional Center prison,
into the U.S.
District Court
for the
Southern
District of
New York's Magistrates Court
on May 21,
2019 his wife
had been
waiting for
him for hours.
Inner City
Press was
there and has
followed the
case since, since
this exclusive
report.
On
December 8,
2020 Akparanta
was sentenced
to 40 months
in prison,
to begin on
April 23, 2021
see below.
And
on April 1,
Akparanta's
lawyer wrote
to Judge
Schofield seeking
a modification
of conditions
of release so
he can "travel
by bus from
his home in
New Jersey to
Butner, North
Carolina,
where he has
been designated to
serve his
custodial term
of imprisonment."
On April
2, Judge Schofield
granted it:
"MEMO
ENDORSEMENT as
to Colin
Akparanta (1)
granting [64]
LETTER MOTION
addressed to
Judge Lorna G.
Schofield from
Nicholas
Kaizer dated
4/1/2021 re:
Permission to
Travel to
Effectuate
Surrender.
ENDORSEMENT:
Application
Granted. The
Clerk of the
Court is
directed to
terminate the
letter motion
at docket
number 64.
(Signed by
Judge Lorna G.
Schofield on
4/2/2021)." On
the road...
Back on
February 21,
2020
the US
Attorney's Office wrote
to SDNY District
Judge Lorna G.
Schofield
about a plea deal. On
March 4 Akparanta
formally pleaded
guilty,
getting a deal
of 37 to 46
months and
undefined
restitution to
seven victims.
But he was
allowed to
plead guilty
regarding
only one of
the seven
victims.
Now on December
4, in advance
of the
repeatedly
postponed
sentencing set for
December 8,
victims'
letters have
been filed.
One, from
an inmate in
the MCC from
March 2018 to
August 2019,
says how Akparanta
exposed
himself, gave
a yeast
infection,
leading to
panic attacks,
nightmares and
cold
sweats.
On
December 8
Judge
Schofield
held the
sentencing of
Akparanta.
Inner City
Press covered
it, Tweeting
in real time here.
She cited
his loss of
his
employment,
after having won some
awarded. She
noted the
government
wanted 46
months,
Probation said
37. She
arrived at 40
months,
apparently to begin on
April 23. Judge
Schofield
asked, not
ordered, that
victim not be
named. It's a
request that
Inner City
Press is
honoring.
Back on
May 21 the
government
argued for a
curfew, saying
that Akparanta
is a
naturalized
U.S. citizen
originally
from Nigeria
to which he
retains strong
ties.
He didn't try
to flee when
first
questioned -
but it seems
he thought he
was under
investigation
only for bringing
contraband
into the MCC
for female
prisoners, not for the sex
acts he traded
the contraband
and control
for.
The
unsealed
indictment in
USA v. Akparanta
lists as his nicknames
or aliases "Africa"
and "Akon." (A
commenter on
Inner
City Press' thread about
the
arraignment
noted that the
singer Akon is
not, in fact,
from Nigeria -
but neither is
Africa a
country.)
***
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