RANKIN COUNTY, Miss. (WJTV) – The six former officers involved in the January abuse case of two Black men pled guilty to federal charges on Thursday, and one Mississippi lawmaker is calling for more action.

The officers included Christian Dedmon, Hunter Elward, Brett McAlpin, Jeffrey Middleton and Daniel Opdyke of the Rankin County Sheriff’s Department and Joshua Hartfield, a Richland police officer.

They pleaded guilty to charges including conspiracy against rights, obstructions of justice, deprivation of rights under color of law, discharge of a firearm under a crime of violence, and conspiracy to obstruct justice.

In January 2023, the six officers raided a Braxton home, where they beat and tortured Michael Jenkins and Eddie Parker.

The chair of the Mississippi Legislative Black Caucus, Rep. Chris Bell (D-District 65) said there’s still work to be done after the guilty pleas.

“The next steps need to be addressing the Rankin County Sheriff’s Department as a whole. You can’t have a leadership individual in a leadership position to continue to stay there and allow what has happened in the past of these two individuals. There needs to be a full investigation of the Rankin County Sheriff’s Department and any other law enforcement agency that has similar ‘Goon Squads,’ as they call it. And if Bryan Bailey really understood this and cares about the citizens that he represents in Rankin County, he should be one of the first individuals calling for a full investigation,” stated Bell.

State charges were filed against the former officers on Thursday, August 3. They are expected to be sentenced in federal court in November 2023.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.