San Francisco deputies to face charges over alleged inmate fights

San Francisco District Attorney George Gascon discusses human trafficking at a press conference at SFO's Aviation Museum in San Francisco, California on Wednesday, January 27, 2016. San Francisco District Attorney George Gascon discusses human trafficking at a press conference at SFO's Aviation Museum in San Francisco, California on Wednesday, January 27, 2016. Photo: Gabrielle Lurie, Special To The Chronicle Photo: Gabrielle Lurie, Special To The Chronicle Image 1 of / 1 Caption Close San Francisco deputies to face charges over alleged inmate fights 1 / 1 Back to Gallery

Two San Francisco sheriff’s deputies and one former deputy who were accused of forcing city jail inmates to fight each other for entertainment will be charged criminally, The Chronicle has learned.

District Attorney George Gascón will hold a news conference Tuesday at the Hall of Justice to announce the charges against former Deputy Scott Neu and Deputies Clifford Chiba and Eugene Jones, said sources familiar with the investigation.

The nature and severity of the charges were not immediately known, and Gascón’s office declined to comment.

Eugene Cerbone, the president of the deputies’ union, confirmed the three men were being charged, but said he did not know the details. He denounced Gascón’s decision as political and suggested the case had been blown out of proportion.

The deputies’ conduct had been under investigation by both local and federal authorities since the allegations emerged in March 2015.

Two inmates, Ricardo Palikiko Garcia and Stanley Harris, came forward to say deputies — Neu in particular — had threatened them early last year with violence or withheld food in order to force them to engage in fights for deputies to bet on.

Garcia, who was in custody on drug and gun possession charges but has since been released, said he was twice forced to fight Harris in County Jail No. 4 at 850 Bryant St. to the point where his ribs may have been fractured and he could not sleep on his side because of the pain.

The deputies told the inmates that “anything goes” in the fights, but instructed them not to leave marks on the face, Garcia said. He said Neu told the inmates that if they required medical attention, they were to lie and say they fell off a bunk.

Harris, who is overweight, said Neu would “train” him for fights by making him exercise, in one instance forcing him to do 200 pushups in an hour.

Harry Stern, an attorney for Neu, declined to comment Monday, but has previously said the allegations amounted to “essentially little more than horseplay.” He decried them as “an utter exaggeration.”

The Sheriff’s Department moved in April to fire Neu, who who was previously accused in a lawsuit of sexually assaulting three inmates, and Chief of Staff Eileen Hirst confirmed Monday that he was no longer with the department.

Chiba and Jones remain employed in positions in which they do not come in contact with prisoners, Hirst said. She declined to comment on the decision to file charges.

The alleged fights occurred under former Sheriff Ross Mirkarimi, who was later voted out of office. Following the allegations, Mirkarimi asked the U.S. Department of Justice to conduct an independent investigation, and the FBI launched a probe.

Federal authorities declined to comment Monday, but David J. Johnson, the FBI’s lead agent in San Francisco, was scheduled to appear with Gascón at Tuesday’s news conference.

The district attorney’s office declined to comment on the charging decision in advance of the news conference.

Cerbone, who indicated that a fourth deputy linked to the alleged jail fights will not be charged, said of Gascón, “The guy is just blowing smoke.”

“We brought cases to him where my staff is being assaulted by inmates on video and he wouldn’t file charges,” the union leader said, “but bring him a case where there are deputies accused and you have charges.

“I’m not shocked,” Cerbone said. “If you had asked me in March, I would have bet my bottom dollar, my last penny, that he was going to trump up or find something and blow it all out of proportion.”

Gascón, a former city police chief, has increasingly cast himself as a law enforcement watchdog and reformer. He launched a blue-ribbon panel investigating police bias and misconduct, and he recently announced that he would team up with the FBI to look into public corruption.

The allegations at the city’s jails came to light after Garcia’s father asked his son’s attorney, a deputy public defender, to help. Public Defender Jeff Adachi said Monday he was heartened to hear that charges were being filed in what he hoped would be a first step in “really changing the culture.

“It’s hard to imagine a place where you would be more vulnerable, when you’re behind bars and you have no choice when you are essentially assaulted and enslaved by state actors,” Adachi said. “It is my hope that this will bring in a new era of reform in San Francisco county jails.”

Vivian Ho is a San Francisco Chronicle staff writer. Email: vho@sfchronicle.com Twitter: @VivianHo