Former jail guard sentenced to 30 days in jail

MANCHESTER, NH – Todd Gordon, a former Valley Street jail corrections officer accused of repeatedly punching a handcuffed inmate in the head because he didn’t like him, was sentenced to 30 days in jail after pleading guilty last May to two counts of enhanced simple assault.

Gordon, 52, of Dracut, Mass., was indicted on five counts of enhanced simple assault and one charge of witness tampering.  The witness tampering count accused him of telling S.F., a subordinate correctional officer, to not say anything about the incident.

On Tuesday, in Hillsborough County Superior Court North, Judge David Anderson sentenced Gordon on the two misdemeanor simple assault offenses.  The witness tampering charge was dropped.

As part of his sentence, Gordon is not to work as a law enforcement or corrections officer, must surrender his state certification and continue counseling.  He also is to have no contact with O.Q., the victim.

The defense, in arguing for no jail time, said Gordon, who worked in corrections for 20 years, lost his job and his pension.

The case was prosecuted by Assistant Rockingham County Attorney Sharon E. Ray because of a conflict with the Hillsborough County Attorney’s Office.

She asked that Gordon receive two 12-month sentences with all but 90-days suspended, arguing that sentence was in line with those imposed for other convicted correctional officers and because his actions were egregious.

In court documents, Ray said, “Gordon calculated his violent behavior, sought out the victim, and then tried to cover it up by not only punching O.Q. while handcuffed and facing a wall in a room that the defendant knew didn’t have cameras. He also tried to assert his authority a second time, by telling his subordinate not to say anything to anyone about what he just did. This clearly demonstrates the defendant’s disregard for basic legal, and ethical standards.”

The assaults took place on Jan. 31, 2023, when the inmate, arrested on a parole violation, was being transferred from the Valley Street jail to the New Hampshire State Prison in Concord.

The inmate, identified only as O.Q. in court documents, was shackled and handcuffed when Gordon repeatedly punched him, sometimes in areas of the jail where there were no cameras.

At the Concord prison, the inmate told officials that Gordon had repeatedly punched him.  The case was initially investigated by Valley Street jail officials before being referred to Manchester police.

According to the state’s sentencing memorandum, the inmate told Manchester police detectives, that he arrived at the jail on Jan. 24, 2023 for a parole violation.

On Jan. 31, 2023 he was being transferred to the state prison when he said Gordon, then a lieutenant at the jail, told S.G., the female correctional officer escorting the inmate, that he was taking over.

She followed as O.Q. was taken to the booking area. Gordon handcuffed O.Q. who told him to go easy because he just recently had shoulder surgery.

The inmate told investigators Gordon “slammed” him into the doors on his left shoulder four to five times on the way down to the booking area, while he was handcuffed.

He said Gordon also did that when they were in the elevator.    O.Q. said before entering the booking area, Gordon  was “mouthing off’ to him and told him he was taking him to an area without cameras. The room, he said, was small and Gordon told him to  move towards the wall and get on his knees.

At the time, he said S.F., Gordon, and another man, on a monitor, were in in this room.  Gordon told him to stand back up and said   something to the effect of “why don’t you call my mother a bitch again.”

O.Q. denied ever saying that.

O.Q., still handcuffed, was standing at this point and looking away from Gordon when the lieutenant struck him twice in the head.   O.Q. said Gordon stated something to the effect of “this is for calling my mother a bitch” multiple times while he was striking OQ.

Gordon told him to turn around and Gordon pulled down his face mask and said “this is so you can remember who I am.”

O.Q. told the detectives that Gordon gave him his address and while he couldn’t remember it, he said it was in Dracut.  He was unsure why Gordon did that.

When Gordon was taking off his handcuffs, O.Q., said he told him “I just dare you to make a move.” He said S.F. stated something to the effect of “yeah, because if you do that, we’re going to fuck you up.”

The inmate then changed his clothes and, just prior to leaving the jail, Gordon said, “get him out of here before I fucking kill him.”

The detectives asked what led up to the incident and O.Q. said about 4 days earlier, he asked a sergeant for headphones and to schedule a “special visit” with his mental health team. The sergeant told him his request was approved.

It didn’t happen and O.Q  kept asking abou it. Eventually, Gordon was called in and, in a loud voice, called him a “cunt.” The two men began an exchange of name-calling but O.Q. maintained he never said anything about Gordon’s mother or anything vulgar until Gordon did.

S.F., who was conducting transfers that day, said Gordon told her he would handle O.Q.’s.  She said she was unsure why that was but she could tell right away that Gordon was irritated.

The two men, she said, exchanged words and were talking about each other’s mothers although S.F. said she was unsure if there was an earlier incident with O.Q.

At some point during the transport of the inmate, Gordon told O.Q. if he was  “going to talk about my mother, there is a place with no cameras.”

She corroborated O.Q.’s account, telling the detectives that Gordon shoved O.Q. into the sides of the elevator and into doors.  In a “cubby” area, where strip searches of inmates are conducted, Gordon struck the inmate in the back of the head. O.Q. screamed once he was struck. She said that O.Q. was not resisting when he was assaulted.

S.F. never told Gordon to stop. She said she was like “a deer in the lights” and just froze.  Later that day, she was in the employee elevator with Gordon when he told her to not say anything, regarding the assault.   The employee only elevator does not have cameras.