A felon who seriously assaulted and threatened the life of a fellow inmate at a Riverside County jail because the woman refused to smuggle drugs into the facility was convicted of assault with a deadly weapon and other offenses.
After deliberating just over two days, a Riverside jury late Thursday afternoon found 35-year-old Cassandra Othelia Hoskins guilty of the assault with a weapon count, as well as one count each of felony assault, sexual penetration with a foreign object, sexual assault on an unconscious person and making criminal threats. Jurors acquitted her of a separate assault charge.
Superior Court Judge Sam Shouka scheduled a sentencing hearing for May 16 at the Riverside Hall of Justice. Hoskins is being held without bail at the Robert Presley Jail.
Her co-defendants, 41-year-old June Alejo and 61-year-old Tamra Elayne Chavez, reached plea deals last week with the District Attorney’s Office, before testimony began. Alejo admitted assault resulting in great bodily injury, and Chavez pleaded no contest to the same charge.
Alejo, who is being held in lieu of $300,000 bail at the Robert Presley Jail, is slated for sentencing on April 23. Chavez, who is being held in lieu of $145,000 bail at an out-of-state correctional facility, is due for sentencing on June 27.
The case goes back to October 2017, when Hoskins 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 prosecutors, Hoskins, who went by the moniker “Tank Boss,” oversaw a drug smuggling ring, involving heroin and other narcotics. One of her tactics was to arrange with contacts on the outside to hide drugs 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, and return to jail with the packets without being screened by staff, 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 slice the top of her head with a razor, making it appear as if she had been injured falling out of her upper bunk bed, court papers said.
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.
“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 brief 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 went 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 prosecution said.
When the victim came to, 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. The beating ended after a minute, and Alejo then went 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 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.