FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE     CR
MONDAY, MARCH 9, 1998                                                                                                                              (202) 616-2777
                                                                                                                                                                                TDD (202) 514-1888


PRINCE GEORGE'S COUNTY POLICE OFFICER PLEADS GUILTY
TO BEATING HANDCUFFED MAN


  WASHINGTON, D.C. -- A Prince George's County, Maryland police
officer pleaded guilty today to beating a handcuffed man with a
nightstick, the Justice Department announced.

     Timothy Moran, 34, admitted to the U.S. District Court in
Greenbelt to violating federal civil rights statutes by using
unreasonable force when he repeatedly beat Peter Peluso with a
night stick, after Peluso had been handcuffed and arrested.  The
incident took place in May, 1994.

     "When an individual's rights are violated by a person wearing
a uniform, all of us are affected, and appropriate action must be
taken.  This case is such a situation," said Bill Lann Lee, Acting
Assistant Attorney General for Civil Rights.

     According to his plea, Moran and a partner responded to a
neighborhood dispute call and arrested Peluso.  Moran admitted to
repeatedly hitting Peluso with a nightstick after Peluso was under
control and his hands were cuffed behind his back.   Peluso has
died since the incident, of unrelated causes.

     "This case is about the abuse of power.  It demonstrates that
when a police officer abuses the trust we have placed in him, he
will be prosecuted and punished the just same as anyone else," said
Lynne A. Battaglia, U.S. Attorney for the District of Maryland.

     Moran now faces a maximum penalty of 10 years imprisonment and
a fine of $250,000.  Sentencing is set to occur on May 7, 1998.

     The case was investigated by the Federal Bureau of
Investigation.

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