Two Thomson prison inmates sentenced for assaults

ROCKFORD – Two inmates at the federal prison in Thomson pleaded guilty and received sentences for their assaults on inmates, the U.S. attorney for the Northern District of Illinois announced Friday in a news release.

George Richard Grant, 34, is a bank robber who was sentenced to 14 years to be served consecutively to his existing sentence.

Kelly Bryan Schneider, 29, is a killer and perpetrator of a hate crime who received 12 and a half years to be served consecutively to his existing sentences.

U.S. District Judge Philip G. Reinhard imposed the sentences this week after hearings at the federal court in Rockford.

[ Indictments made in death of cellmate at Thomson prison. ]

The government was represented in the cases by Assistant U.S. Attorney Vincenza L. Tomlinson. The sentences were announced by John R. Lausch, Jr., United States attorney for the Northern District of Illinois, and Ashley T. Johnson, special agent-in-charge of the Chicago Field Office of the FBI.

According to the release, Gaunt and Schneider admitted in plea agreements that on Aug. 9, 2019, they punched, kicked and stomped on an inmate’s body and head multiple times, causing serious injuries and loss of consciousness.

According to the release, the pair continued to strike the inmate while the inmate was defenseless and in a protective posture. Schneider admitted that he attempted to bite off the inmate’s ear and continued to strike the inmate until correctional staff intervened.

Gaunt and Schneider assaulted another inmate on Aug. 23, 2019, according to the release. In that attack, the pair punched, kicked and stomped on the inmate’s body and head multiple times, causing serious injuries and loss of consciousness. Gaunt and Schneider continued to strike the inmate while he was defenseless.

Gaunt and Schneider admitted in their plea agreements that neither of the victims provoked the attacks in any way.

Grant was sentenced Nov. 5, 2014, for using a black BB gun to rob banks in Virginia, Iowa and Minnesota. He was apprehended by federal agents on Oct. 15, 2013, with the BB gun and a bag containing $7,472 taken from a bank in Eagle Lake, Minnesota. His original sentence was for 150 months.

Schneider pleaded guilty on Feb. 7, 2017, to the violent assault leading to the death of Steven Nelson, a gay man. The state of Idaho sentenced Schneider to a 28-year term. The federal court sentenced him to 336 months in prison.