FAYETTEVILLE, Ark. — Former Franklin County Sheriff Anthony Boen, 51, has been sentenced to 48 months in prison on two counts of using unreasonable force on individuals in his custody. He has also been ordered to pay $5,000 in fines.
Boen learned his fate Thursday, March 10, at the Federal Courthouse in Fayetteville. He will serve his time at a federal prison in Forrest City, Arkansas. He has 14 days to appeal his sentence.
The former sheriff was found guilty on two counts of civil rights violations by using unreasonable force in August 2021 by a jury in the Western District of Arkansas. He was stripped of his position as sheriff following the guilty verdicts.
Boen was initially indicted on three federal charges of using excessive force on detainees. Investigators say one of the alleged incidents occurred in 2017 and the other two in 2018. Boen's charges stem from his actions in 2018. Boen struck an inmate several times with a closed fist as they sat on the floor, shackled to a bench inside the Franklin County Jail, returning later to hit the inmate again and spit on them. In another case, Boen slammed a detainee to the floor and ripped at his hair during an interrogation.
"Anthony Boen swore an oath to support the United States Constitution and the State of Arkansas Constitution," said U.S. Attorney David Clay Fowlkes of the Western District of Arkansas. "His actions clearly violated not only the civil rights of these individuals but also the trust of the people of Franklin County.
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