Suffolk Corrections Officers Charged With Assaulting Jail Inmate

Two Suffolk County corrections officers have been indicted for allegedly assaulting an inmate at the Suffolk County Correctional Facility in Riverhead in 2013.

Vincent Cennamo III, 53, of Moriches, pleaded not guilty Thursday to first degree assault, first degree falsifying business records, first degree offering a false instrument for filing and official misconduct, according to the Suffolk County District Attorney’s office.

The other officer, Mark Nicol, 46, of Ronkonkoma, is charged with first degree assault.

Prosecutors say 32-year-old Joshua Durkel, who was serving a sentence for a probation violation after a drug conviction, was assaulted by the officers on Nov. 27, 2013.

Cennamo is accused of making false entries in an incident report, where he claimed Durkel said he slipped and suffered a cut above his right eyebrow when he hit his head on a stove in the jail’s kitchen.

Judge Timothy Mazzei released Cennamo and Nichol on their own recognizance and scheduled a return court date for March 21.

Durkel now lives in Florida.

SCDA photos: Vincent Cennamo III (left) and Mark Nicol