The defense rested Thursday in the trial of a convicted felon accused of severely assaulting a fellow female inmate at a Riverside County jail because the woman failed to follow through on the defendant’s commands to smuggle drugs into the facility.
Cassandra Othelia Hoskins, 35, is charged with three counts of assault resulting in great bodily injury and one count each of forcible sexual penetration with a foreign object, sexual assault on an unconscious person and making criminal threats.
Hoskins’ co-defendants, 41-year-old June Alejo and 61-year-old Tamra Elayne Chavez, reached plea agreements earlier this week with the District Attorney’s Office, before trial testimony got underway at the Riverside Hall of Justice. Alejo admitted assault resulting in great bodily injury, and Chavez pleaded nolo contendre to the same charge.
Alejo, who is being held on $300,000 bail at the Robert Presley Jail, is slated for sentencing on April 23. Chavez, who is being held on $145,000 bail at an out-of-state correctional facility, is due for sentencing on June 27.
Testimony in Hoskins’ trial lasted two days. The prosecution rested Wednesday. Superior Court Judge Sam Shouka directed jurors to return to the downtown courthouse next Tuesday for closing statements.
The case against Hoskins goes back to October 2017, when the multi-convicted defendant was housed at the former Indio Jail, which later was shuttered following completion of the Benoit Detention Center.
According to a trial brief filed by the District Attorney’s Office, Hoskins, who went by the moniker “Tank Boss,” was recognized as a cell block kingpin, governing the affairs of other inmates. She was further affiliated with an unspecified “white power” gang, documents stated.
Prosecutors alleged Hoskins oversaw a drug smuggling ring, involving heroin and other narcotics. One of her principal tactics was to arrange with contacts on the outside to hide narcotics in locations where inmates could access them, including JFK Memorial Hospital in Indio, to which injured inmates were taken for treatment.
The treated female inmates would procure the contraband, conceal it physiologically, and return to jail with the packets without being screened by staff, allegedly enabling Hoskins to acquire the drugs for distribution and sale, according to the brief.
On Oct. 9, 2017, the defendant approached an inmate identified only as “Jane Doe” to make a hospital run to procure narcotics hidden in a bathroom stall, according to the prosecution. The victim, out of fear, accepted and allowed Hoskins to use a razor to slice the top of her head, making it appear as if she had been injured falling out of her upper bunk bed, court papers alleged.
The victim went to the hospital for treatment and found the drugs but panicked, flushing the contraband down the toilet instead of concealing it for movement into the jail, the brief said.
“When she returned from the hospital two days later, on Oct. 11, Jane Doe told Hoskins she couldn’t do it, referring to bringing the drugs back from the hospital,” the narrative stated. “Later in the day, Hoskins confronted Jane Doe about the drugs. Hoskins indicated she spoke to her sister, who had confirmed that the drugs had been placed in the bathroom prior to Jane Doe’s arrival there.”
The confrontation ended without a physical clash, but the next day, Chavez sought out Jane Doe, telling her to meet Hoskins in the showers of Housing Unit 11 at the Indio Jail. The woman complied and encountered an “angry” Hoskins, who “picked Jane Doe up with both hands by the throat and slammed her head against the shower wall, causing her to lose consciousness,” the brief said.
When the victim came alert, she found her pants pulled down below her knees and Hoskins “digging through her vagina with a plastic spoon,” apparently convinced the woman had been lying and had returned to jail with the drugs for herself, according to the document.
When the victim was able to wriggle free and get back to her feet, Alejo entered and, at Hoskins’ direction, started punching Jane Doe in the head, prosecutors alleged. The beating ended after a minute, and Alejo then went directly to the victim’s jail cell and threw her belongings into a corridor, according to the brief.
“Hoskins then told Jane Doe that she was going to find her and kill her wherever she went,” court papers said. “Hoskins said that she would find Jane Doe’s children, kill them and skin their heads if Hoskins’ house got raided by law enforcement.”
Correctional deputies intervened and took the victim to the hospital, where doctors confirmed injuries consistent with an assault on her privates and head, according to the brief.
Court records show Hoskins has a range of convictions going back to 2008, including for assault and drug smuggling. She has served time in state prison.