Detention centre inmate accused of eating spectacles

A Burleigh County Detention Center inmate ended up making a spectacle of himself when he didn’t get to speak to a chaplain. William Demery, 42, could face a charge of criminal mischief for allegedly snatching another Burleigh County inmate’s glasses and eating them less than five hours after being booked into the detention center.

Burleigh County Sheriff’s Major Les Witkowski said Demery was upset on Aug. 1 because a chaplain had not been to the detention center to speak to him when he thought the chaplain would be there. Demery is accused of grabbing another inmate’s glasses and eating both lenses and a piece of the metal frame. Demery was taken to the Medcenter One emergency room, where a doctor determined he would be OK to return to jail, Witkowski said.



He said the jail staff completed a jail report on the matter after it happened but did not complete an incident report with the sheriff’s department about it until finding out the glasses were worth $250. The incident report was completed on Tuesday. According to jail records, Demery was booked into jail at 8:04 a.m. on Aug. 1. He is being held in lieu of $2,500 cash bond on an aggravated assault charge.

Witkowski said the report will be sent to the Burleigh County State’s Attorney’s office for potential charges. Assistant State’s Attorney Lloyd Suhr said he had not received the report as of Wednesday afternoon. “I’ll be looking for it — no pun intended,” he said.