Former jail inmate sues over attack

FRANKLIN – A former inmate at the St. Mary Parish Law Enforcement Center in Centerville alleged in a Sept. 4 lawsuit that he was beaten after authorities failed to segregate his alleged attacker, an inmate known to be violent, from nonviolent offenders.
Numa Lorio Jr., 69, of Terrebonne Parish, filed the lawsuit in the 16th Judicial District Court against St. Mary Parish Sheriff Mark Hebert and former inmate Bobby Seeley, according to St. Mary Parish Clerk of Court records.
Lorio alleges that on Sept. 9, 2014, Seeley, 44, a violent Department of Corrections inmate, beat him with a telephone receiver while Lorio was resting on his mattress on the floor of his cell block near the community telephone, the lawsuit said.
As of a result of the attack, Lorio alleges, he sustained injuries to his face and right eye requiring medical treatment and surgery to repair damages to the eye.
Lorio was incarceratedbefore trial on the charge of first offense possession of marijuana, the lawsuit said.
According to clerk of court records, Lorio pleaded guilty June 23 to the charge of possession of marijuana or synthetic cannabinoids from his November 2013 arrest in Berwick.
In the lawsuit, Lorio said that Hebert and Seeley are liable for damages as a result of the alleged attack.
The lawsuit alleged that St. Mary Parish Sheriff’s Office authorities knew of Seeley’s “violent disposition” and failed to segregate this prisoner from non-violent prisoners until after Seeley had “severely beaten” Lorio.
According to a St. Mary Parish Sheriff’s Office news release, Seeley, an inmate in the parish jail, was charged with aggravated battery on Oct. 27, 2014.
A detective conducted an investigation into a complaint of a battery that occurred at the St. Mary Parish Law Enforcement Center in September, the release said.
While housed in a dorm, Seeley struck another inmate in the face with the receiver of a jail telephone, the release said.
The victim sustained a small laceration to the face and was treated by medical staff for the injury following the incident, the news release stated.
In July, Seeley pleaded guilty to the lesser charge of simple battery in the case, Assistant District Attorney Anthony Saleme said.
Seeley had pleaded guilty April 28, 2014, to simple battery and theft under $500 stemming from an August 2013 incident in which Seeley was accused of grabbing his ex-girlfriend by the neck and choking her and then punching her in the face, according to court records. Seeley had also pleaded guilty in 2013 to the charges of resisting an officer and disturbing the peace intoxicated stemming from a 2008 incident, according to clerk of court records.
On Thursday, St. Mary Parish Sheriff’s Office spokeswoman Traci Landry said that when the alleged attack on Lorio occurred, detectives investigated the case, which resulted in the charge against Seeley.
Landry would not comment on the pending lawsuit in order to make sure the case “is preserved for the court to look at it,” she said.

This story was written by Zachary Fitzgerald of The Daily Review staff. Reach him at zfitzgerald@daily-review.com