12-09-06: Titus Says He Fears Jail Staff butt naked

[NubianMuscle]

Dec. 09, 2006

BODYBUILDER: Titus says he fears jail staff

Inmate tells lawyer he was forced to lie 'butt naked'

By GLENN PUIT
REVIEW-JOURNAL

Bodybuilder Craig Titus has written a jailhouse letter saying that he was forced by corrections officers to lie naked in a jail cell at gunpoint in October, and that two female nurses observed him "butt naked" during the episode.

In the letter to his attorney, Titus also said he fears for his safety at the Clark County Detention Center because of the incident.

"I'm very scared right now," Titus wrote in the letter, a copy of which has been obtained by the Review-Journal. "For the first time in my life, I'm actually terrified. I need your help, my friend. But I'm also scared to even tell you in fear they may do something else to me."

Titus' attorney, Marc Saggese, declined to comment Friday on the letter.

If any inmates at the Clark County Detention Center feel they have been mistreated, Las Vegas police spokesman Jose Montoya said, they can file a complaint with the jail's internal affairs office or notify a supervising officer and the matter will be investigated.

Montoya referred the Review-Journal to Internal Affairs for further questions. Internal Affairs in turn referred the newspaper to the detention center's administration. Administrators did not return a call for comment.

It was unclear whether Titus or his attorney have filed a formal complaint with officials at the detention center.

Two weeks ago, the Review-Journal confirmed that Titus was placed in administrative segregation at the jail. Police would not say why.

Titus, 42, is a former competitor in Mr. Olympia bodybuilding competitions. He and his wife, fitness champion Kelly Ryan, 34, are charged with murder in the death of their personal assistant, Melissa James, 28. The young woman's body was found in the trunk of Ryan's Jaguar off state Route 160 a year ago.

Titus also has been the subject of an extensive investigation at the detention center regarding suspicions from authorities that he tried to orchestrate a plot to kill three witnesses in his murder case. A colleague of Titus has been charged in the episode, but Titus has denied any involvement. Titus has not been charged with plotting to kill witnesses. Saggese said last week that the details of that investigation have led him to believe police will do anything they can to set up his client.

In Titus' jailhouse letter, the bodybuilder references a "threat of escape" accusation lodged against him by officials at the jail. Titus denied the accusation in the letter.

In the letter, Titus pleads for help from his attorney as he relates an incident in late October at the jail.

"A code orange was announced over the facility speakers," Titus wrote. "I was then asked to step outside my cell on two separate occasions by regular module officers while they searched my cell. Nothing happened.

"I would say about 30 minutes later, approximately 8 to 12 officers in full riot gear stormed up to my cell door," Titus wrote. "They yelled, 'Inmate Titus, lay flat on the floor, arms extended, palms up, and cross your legs, face down.'

"They then told me if I did not completely comply, I would experience a great amount of pain," he said.

Titus said the officers had "lasers from Taser guns pointed at me along with shotguns."

His jail cell opened, two to three officers entered, and he was handcuffed, he said.

"They walked me out the door and proceeded to strap me into a chair on wheels designed for extremely crazy and violent individuals," Titus said.

"After they strapped me into the chair, they put a black-lensed pair of goggles on me so I was in total darkness," Titus said. "I was shaking so hard out of fear I was almost in tears."

Titus said he was wheeled into a room, still in total darkness, and was unstrapped from the chair. He was walked to a bunk bed, told not to resist, and placed flat on his stomach, he said.

"After they took my cuffs off, they pulled my pants and underwear off, leaving me totally nude," Titus said. "At this point, I'm shaking so bad I can't even begin to describe the fear."

Titus said his goggles were pulled off and he was told to keep looking at a wall until the jail cell door slammed.

"Then the officers put a red dot on the wall from either a Taser laser or a shotgun laser and asked me do I know what it is," Titus said.

Titus said he looked up and realized they were videotaping the incident. He said he was asked whether he had injuries.

"To make matters worse, two female nurses stood there looking at me butt-naked through the glass and took my vital signs," Titus said.

"After everything was over, I noticed one of the officers dropped his handcuff keys on my bunk," Titus said. "I immediately gave them to the sergeant on duty. After all this, they are now telling me they made a mistake, and I had nothing to do with whatever went on that night."

Titus said he is in the "psycho ward" in total isolation.

"I don't know what they are trying to do to me but now they have other charges filed against me," Titus said.

Titus also said he has been written up for altering or damaging jail property.

"Please help me," Titus said. "They won't let me use the phone as well. I haven't showered since Monday.

"(It's) keeping me from sleeping," Titus said. "I can't put my back to the door at night, and the nightmares are only getting worse!"

[Benito Mutumbo]

It sounds like Titus is losing his mind in jail. 

Once you get through his paranoia..It sounds like he got caught doing something very wrong. 

They probably think he's trying to escape.  He probably pinched the handcuff keys...then they put the scare into him to get them back.  Sure enough he returns the keys...and promptly gets put in isolation as a high risk.

His situation gets more crazier by the week.

Titus said he looked up and realized they were videotaping the incident. He said he was asked whether he had injuries.

"To make matters worse, two female nurses stood there looking at me butt-naked through the glass and took my vital signs," Titus said.

I don't know about you, but that seems like smart procedure.  I would hope that's standard. 

Ironic that Craig is cowering from the potential jolt of a taser.

[buffalo]

It sounds like Titus is losing his mind in jail. 

Once you get through his paranoia..It sounds like he got caught doing something very wrong. 

They probably think he's trying to escape.  He probably pinched the handcuff keys...then they put the scare into him to get them back.  Sure enough he returns the keys...and promptly gets put in isolation as a high risk.

His situation gets more crazier by the week.

I don't know about you, but that seems like smart procedure.  I would hope that's standard. 

Ironic that Craig is cowering from the potential jolt of a taser.

LOL..I think you hit it right on the head.
Definitely did something wrong..and poor Craig...he thinks he's still on the outside where he is some sort of celebrity and can get his own way.
Sorry dude..that's not how it works in jail...and just wait, you haven't even hit the big time yet. 
No doubt he will have to be kept segregated once he's sentenced just for his own protection.  I mean seriously...if Craig is this worried over some guards and a couple of female nurses, he's gonna be shitting razorblades when the inmates take a polk at him.

The taser reference was pure psychopathic poetry..Craig never ceases to amaze...that narcissism shines through like a blinding beacon..RFLMFAO

[shockandawe]

Buff, I'm with you....  Thought the same thing about the Taser. My how the mind of an idiot SPILLS GREY MATTER when given half a chance!

Titus, tsk, tsk, tsk... he is so transparent, it isn't even funny.
Cops in county don't give a SHIT enough about him. Riot GEAR? FUUUUUUCK.  Nurses? I'm surprised Craig didn't regale the media with his stories of seducing them in their naughty uniforms!

This Glen Puitt stuff is so HYPED too.  I can't believe they allow him a press pass to the toilet!
Boy, if he isn't the biggest journalistic PATSY. He ought to give up writing and go back to McDonald's QP line!

This would be a "fantastic" type story - if only it were interesting.  But alas, it actually isn't.

Isn't it HILARIOUS how utterly CHAOTIC and COMPLICATED this story is, and how it utterly imitates Craig's life ANYTIME!!!!  You know Titus is involved if it looks like a fucking train wreck!  GUESS WHAT? IT IS A TRAIN WRECK!!!!

These stories are SOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO gayly planted by his counsel.
Finally.. Craig found an attorney who's a mirror vision of himself. He probably got his law degree on EBAY TOO!

You see, no matter how true or untrue this crap is, its existence is meant to taint a potential jury pool.
But you know what? Both he and his attorney are forgetting one thing:
No potential jury pool is even reading this shit - they aren't!  I'll bet 75% of them don't know who he is and have not followed the case once they get there.

It's deceiving because they assume (like all arrogant souls) that the world is turning around their little dog and pony show, and that everyone is watching with rapt attention. We are, because we know him, and this is a SMALL, pathetic, insular sport!  BUT... Joe Average and his wife haven't registered hearing a thing.  And if they did, the attorneys will weed them out at jury selection.  I mean, how sad that they imagine people actually give a shit or know who he is!!  They don't, I assure you.

He's goin' down and he knows it. This is just so much fun for him - but what happens when all of the attention and media shit ceases once he's put in prison for good?  There will be no jail door tell-alls or tall tales of abuse.  No one will get close enough, and he'll be just another bloody cautionary tale bleeding out of his ass in a communal shower room. 

[240 is Back]

his attorney is leaking the letters now?

wow...

[boonasty]

i always thought it was 'buck naked'

[stuntmovie]

Shock, well stated but I do think that all this shit is going to work out in his favor during the trial proceedings. It may not get him off  but it sure ain't gonna get him a harsher sentence.

And a lot more shit is gonna happen between  now and April that people (cept us) won't know a thing about that will prove to be in his favor eventually.

I don't think this is going to be a "slam-dunk" at all and if enough fouls are called, there is a small possibility that he could even get a "free throw".

I wonder how much of this stuff is well thought out by the defense and planned beforehand?

[shockandawe]

Stunt,
Prolly right about that. But... keep in mind that hardly ANYONE meeting Titus, particularly with his physique (to the average person this is scary) and his comments under his breath, outbursts, etc.. will EVER like him.  No jury will ever like him because he can't win them over in the way he wins over weak, sycophantic personalities.  They don't want to do anything for him, like a Gross, or some other flunky. If the prosecution is smart, they'll get white men, older, and white women, older, as well as minority women.  No young women or young men who could idolize or know who Titus is.  This was the biggest mistake the OJ Simpson pros. made when engaged in jury selection.  They chose minority women for whom violence is not particularly shocking. Successful white men who are balding and/ or from a different time will have a hard time NOT convicting him.

[quadzilla456]

Buff, I'm with you....  Thought the same thing about the Taser. My how the mind of an idiot SPILLS GREY MATTER when given half a chance!

Titus, tsk, tsk, tsk... he is so transparent, it isn't even funny.
Cops in county don't give a SHIT enough about him. Riot GEAR? FUUUUUUCK.  Nurses? I'm surprised Craig didn't regale the media with his stories of seducing them in their naughty uniforms!

This Glen Puitt stuff is so HYPED too.  I can't believe they allow him a press pass to the toilet!
Boy, if he isn't the biggest journalistic PATSY. He ought to give up writing and go back to McDonald's QP line!

This would be a "fantastic" type story - if only it were interesting.  But alas, it actually isn't.

Isn't it HILARIOUS how utterly CHAOTIC and COMPLICATED this story is, and how it utterly imitates Craig's life ANYTIME!!!!  You know Titus is involved if it looks like a fucking train wreck!  GUESS WHAT? IT IS A TRAIN WRECK!!!!

These stories are SOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO gayly planted by his counsel.
Finally.. Craig found an attorney who's a mirror vision of himself. He probably got his law degree on EBAY TOO!

You see, no matter how true or untrue this crap is, its existence is meant to taint a potential jury pool.
But you know what? Both he and his attorney are forgetting one thing:
No potential jury pool is even reading this shit - they aren't!  I'll bet 75% of them don't know who he is and have not followed the case once they get there.

It's deceiving because they assume (like all arrogant souls) that the world is turning around their little dog and pony show, and that everyone is watching with rapt attention. We are, because we know him, and this is a SMALL, pathetic, insular sport!  BUT... Joe Average and his wife haven't registered hearing a thing.  And if they did, the attorneys will weed them out at jury selection.  I mean, how sad that they imagine people actually give a shit or know who he is!!  They don't, I assure you.

He's goin' down and he knows it. This is just so much fun for him - but what happens when all of the attention and media shit ceases once he's put in prison for good?  There will be no jail door tell-alls or tall tales of abuse.  No one will get close enough, and he'll be just another bloody cautionary tale bleeding out of his ass in a communal shower room. 

You may be right but if I was in Craig's position I would kill or be killed before the "bleeding out of the ass" part comes. I'm sorry but life is not worth after that point. Suicide by cop would be a definate option.

[YoungBlood]

"To make matters worse, two female nurses stood there looking at me butt-naked through the glass and took my vital signs," Titus said.

How do you take vital signs while looking at someone through a glass window?

[shockandawe]

Young, I agree. I never saw that happen. And they shrouded his body during the search, with a lot of privacy in mind. They were not humiliating him, he was just losing the pride and self-esteem one does when he finally realizes he is reaping what he has sewn.

I wonder if Kelly's father has read those comments about him, and then watched the videos. He's probably sitting there thinking, "Good, you smug bastard!" 

I think it's so odd that people think this looks brutal. It is intense, I will admit, but not unwarranted. Look, he's a big dude with a history of violence. There are literally hundreds of these San Quentin documentaries and such on television talking about how inmates head-butted guards, bit their faces or noses off, or spit at them, or knocked them down in the process and kicked them senseless. How do they know Titus wouldn't have done that to any one of them?   You may know that he wouldn't try it, but they don't.

In their eyes, with the overwhelmingly damning evidence against him and Kelly, they probably figure he IS going down for life and feels like he has nothing to lose. Plus, if he's engaged in murder-for-hire stuff, they KNOW he's capable of suckering one of them down on the ground!

[YoungBlood]

I find it funny how people say that the videos are brutal or inhumane.
Titus kills someone, used a tazer gun multiple times, has a history of punching out people in the public (the Melvin Anthony incident in Gold's for example), and ever since I can remember was called "Bodybuildings Bad Boy."
So, the authorities take the precaution to maintain their safety, and end up still getting flak for it? What would have happened had Titus had a shank he made, and stabbed a guard with it? Then he would have been thrown down, beaten mercilessly, tazered and probably had pepper spray used on him.
Which is more violent and humane now? The latter or being strapped into a chair?
Him being nude I do not understand, but it's probably got something to do with him having that much less places to hide weapons.
Titus deserves it, should he have committed the crimes he's indicted for. And so far, all evidence points to him being the one involved (with or without Kelly and Gross). Evidence is the trail that leads back to the crime, it's the trail of breadcrumbs. Titus left far too many crumbs out.

[Dos Equis]

I agree.  Anytime you want to feel sorry for Titus, just think about the victim and her mother. 

[DDoubleA86]

That's what the prison staff wants! They want him to lose his mind, and go crazy. Yet, what they don't know is that if he doesn't go crazy then he can alone get life in prison without the probality of probale, because it is against the law to execute the mental insane or mental incompitent. So once he goes mad; if he goes mad then he will just be transferred to a mental hospital to send the rest of his life there.

[shockandawe]

Yeah, well, as much as we all like to call Titus insane - because normal people dont' behave as he does and we've all known that for years - he is just a skosh short of true insanity. Therefore, he'll spend his life on death row.

Btw, saw a documentary on NG channel about prison lockdowns... man, he's got his work cut out for him. People think he'll cake walk his time, but he'll get stabbed, fucked, get solitary and everything else. I'll be surprised if he makes it past 5 years. He'll be a constant target.

And Kelly... man, she'll have it rough too. She'll have to be someone's bitch right off the bat, because she'll be a constant target and you should have seen how DYKEY and nasty these bitches were!  It was Valley State in California, and these women were f'in INSANE violent.
Since she'll go to violent offender wings in any prison, she'll definitely be with the big black girls who don't take shit and the hispanics that shank you every chance they get and have tats all over their faces. It's brutal man. Salinas Prison in central CA has overcrowding so bad, the gym is used to house 120 inmates without bars - all together - and the whites fight to stay alive because the southern mexicans want to shank their asses every chance they get.

And, it's just as brutal for women as for men.

Just like on the outside, Kelly will create some jealous love triangle and be at the heart of another murder or two. She won't be able to help it.

SAD.

[trab]

Craig's kind of a tribute to all the F'd up people in this world born set on self-destruct.
What makes Craig REALY special is: He made himself fairly successful in Pro body building, a tough nut to crack, even though he had way less than great structure for it. Blocky. Rags to riches to the death chamber.

Fair Trial? I couldn't sit on his jury w/ a open mind at this point.
       And, I don't even approve of the death penalty. But I do got to say, right now even my instincts say that dog needs be put to sleep.

They need to get a bunch a little old Blue Hairs from out in the sticks to hear this out.
Everyone ought to get a fair trial. esp for something this serious. Craigs doomed.

[blinky]

i cant believe how hes bitching and whining about being scared and mis-treated. 

you fucken killed someone, put them in the trunk of a car and set it on fire!!!
youre getting what you brought on yourself . now shut up titus.

[DDoubleA86]

Fuck the jail staff!! Titus betta be worried about the other male inmates, because since he no longer is on steroids, and is losing all that weight which is altering his body frame he is more at risk of getting gang-raped or becoming some inmate's bitch. So hell yeah he got his work cut out for him, because the inmates can only weight lift in the yard for so long during the course of a day, and in most prisons the inmates take two or three showers a day with only one guard standing watch. Titus' best bet would be to find at least three guards that he can trust with his life or one of them corrupt guards who want to see him get hurt; raped, or humilated is gonna get their wish granted at his painful expense.

[SinCitysmallGUY]

Titus will be a target for sure no matter where he goes.. Guys will try to fuck titus just so that they can say that they bent lil craigers over and gave him the rod... I believe Tyson said he had to watch his back while in prison for this same reason..

[slummin]

"After they strapped me into the chair, they put a black-lensed pair of goggles on me so I was in total darkness," Titus said. "I was shaking so hard out of fear I was almost in tears."

I wonder if that's how Melissa felt when you threw her in the trunk.

[slummin]

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