Gang member sentenced for attacking federal correctional officer in Atlanta
ATLANTA - A Carrollton man has been sentenced to over six years in prison for attacking a Bureau of Prisons correctional officer while in custody in Atlanta.
In February, a federal jury found 34-year-old Cody Ryan Todd guilty of assaulting a correctional officer.
Officials say Todd, a known associate of the criminal street gang Ghost Face Gangsters, was in custody at the U.S. Penitentiary in Atlanta when he hit an officer in the face, knocking the man to the floor.
Todd then hit the officer more times, leaving him with significant injuries, officials said.
The Carrollton man had been previously arrested in connection with a RICO investigation into the Ghost Face Gangsters organization. While waiting to face those charges, Todd had been convicted of conspiracy to commit racketeering and was sentenced to 16 years in prison.
Todd had also been previously convicted of battery on four separate occasions, officials say.
"This defendant’s pattern of violent behavior continued while he was in custody, resulting in a vicious attack that left a correctional officer seriously injured," said U.S. Attorney Ryan K. Buchanan. "Correctional officers must be permitted to do their jobs without the threat or fear of violence, and those who bring them harm will be prosecuted."
Following his conviction on the assault charge, a U. S. district judge sentenced Todd to six years and five months in prison - nearly three years of which will be served concurrently with the sentence on his racketeering conviction.