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Two corrections officers arrested in banquet fight

The charges bring to 11 the number of corrections employees who have been charged with crimes since last year.

By STEVE BOUSQUET
Published November 8, 2005

TALLAHASSEE - Two high-ranking state corrections officers were arrested on felony battery charges Tuesday, and a warrant was issued for a third man's arrest stemming from their involvement in a beer-soaked brawl at a prison softball banquet in April.

The charges bring to 11 the number of corrections employees who have been charged with crimes or found guilty since an illegal steroid distribution ring was broken up by agents last year.

Tallahassee police arrested Col. Richard Allen Frye, 36, and Maj. James Bowen, 33, in the fracas at a National Guard armory in Tallahassee. Frye and Bowen have been on paid leave since Oct. 27 and were warned by superiors that they faced possible dismissal. They were being held in Jackson County Jail without bail.

An arrest warrant was issued for Allen Clark, who was wanted on a felony battery charge as well, but was still at large.

Clark, 40, of Sneads, resigned his $94,000-a-year post as regional director of 13 North Florida prisons in September. An avid softball player and protege of Corrections Secretary James Crosby, Clark had received a series of promotions since Crosby took charge of the agency in early 2003.

The charges stemmed from an April Fools' party earlier this year at the Florida National Guard Armory. Investigators said James Edward O'Bryan, 38, of Blountstown, a former prison officer married to corrections Maj. Cathi O'Bryan, jumped down from a stage and slipped on a wet floor in a puddle of vomit and beer.

As he fell, O'Bryan said, he reached out for the only person nearby, Barbara Durrance, another corrections employee.

They both fell to the floor. Seconds later, Clark was straddling O'Bryan and slugging him in the face while Frye and Bowen kicked and slugged him, a police report said. O'Bryan suffered a bloody nose, bruised ribs and cuts on his chin and lip.

The banquet was sponsored by the Florida Council on Crime and Delinquency, a nonprofit group that promotes "high professional standards for criminal justice agencies." Many of those in attendance were prison employees in town for a softball tournament.

A spokesman for Crosby said Frye and Bowen would remain on paid leave.

"Until we get a chance to look at the information, their status will remain the same," corrections spokesman Robby Cunningham said.

Crosby was briefly at the softball banquet, but he said he left before the trouble started.

A spokeswoman for Gov. Jeb Bush declined to comment on the latest developments in the ongoing prison scandal.

"We really can't weigh in on an ongoing investigation," spokeswoman Alia Faraj said.

-- Times staff writer Rebecca Catalanello contributed to this report. Steve Bousquet can be reached at 850 224-7263 or bousquet@sptimes.com

[Last modified November 8, 2005, 22:43:02]