A Bellevue man was sentenced Tuesday to 18 months to two years in prison for being an accessory to a fatal assault of a fellow inmate at the Sarpy County Jail last year.
Prosecutors said Diego A. Vasquez Jr., 22, worked to keep a guard from finding the body of 43-year-old Huan Pham last August. He also dragged Pham into an empty cell at the jail.
Vasquez was also sentenced Tuesday in Sarpy County District Court to two to four years after being found guilty of attempted robbery. A judge ordered the sentences to be served one after the other.
Dreshawn Stewart, 21, pleaded no contest to manslaughter in the death of Pham and was sentenced to six to 12 years in prison. He was also sentenced last month to six to 12 months in prison for a misdemeanor domestic assault conviction with the sentences to be served at the same time.
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Derek Kern, 32, pleaded no contest to accessory to manslaughter and will be sentenced in mid-May. An earlier sentencing hearing was continued because of disagreements over how much time served he is eligible for.
According to prior in-court , Pham instigated a fight with Stewart that ended with Stewart punching Pham multiple times in the torso, rupturing his spleen and ultimately causing Pham to die of internal bleeding.
Around 8:45 p.m. on Aug. 10, 2023, a security video from inside the jail captured Pham approaching Stewart and indicating he wanted to fight. Stewart eventually agreed to fight, and Kern offered his cell as a venue.
Stewart followed Pham into Kern’s cell, and before Pham turned around, Stewart punched Pham once in the head and multiple times in the left side of his body. Pham fell to the ground while Stewart hit him a few more times. After about five punches, Stewart left the area and returned to his cell.
Kern and Vasquez worked together to delay the finding of Pham’s body. After two jail staff members came and went without noticing Pham, Kern yelled at Vasquez to get Pham out of his cell, according to testimony.
Vasquez dragged Pham’s unconscious — and possibly already dead — body into an adjacent empty cell, while Kern began to clean Pham’s blood from the walls and floor of his cell.
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