WILLIAMSPORT — This is an official press release from the U.S. Department of Justice (USAO - Pennsylvania, Middle), published as received.

WILLIAMSPORT - The United States Attorney’s Office for the Middle District of Pennsylvania announced today that a federal grand jury in Williamsport indicted Christopher Goins, age 40, Ashley Dixon, age 28, Troi Venable, age 36, and Perlie Johnson, age 31, yesterday, for assault with a deadly weapon.

According to United States Attorney Peter Smith, Goins, Dixon, Venable and Johnson are charged with conspiring to assault a fellow inmate while they were confined at the United States Penitentiary at Lewisburg, and subsequently arming themselves with improvised weapons and carrying out the assault in November 2014, causing serious injury to the victim.

In a separate incident, Goins is alleged to have committed a second assault on a different inmate in December 2014 that resulted in serious bodily injury to the victim.

The investigation was conducted by the Federal Bureau of Investigation, and the Bureau of Prisons Special Investigative Service. Assistant United States Attorney Geoffrey W. MacArthur has been assigned to prosecute the case. 

Indictments are only allegations.  All persons charged are presumed to be innocent unless and until found guilty in court.

A sentence following a finding of guilt is imposed by the Judge after consideration of the applicable federal sentencing statues and the Federal Sentencing Guidelines. 

In this case, the maximum penalty for each count is 10 years’ imprisonment, a term of supervised release following imprisonment, and a fine of $250,000.           

Under the Federal Sentencing Guidelines, the Judge is also required to consider and weigh a number of factors, including the nature, circumstances and seriousness of the offense; the history and characteristics of the defendant; and the need to punish the defendant, protect the public and provide for the defendant’s educational, vocational and medical needs. For these reasons, the statutory maximum penalty for the offense is not necessarily an accurate indicator of the potential sentence for a specific defendant.

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