So You Think You Can Dance, Inmate Edition

By Samantha Abernethy in News on May 3, 2012 8:40PM

An Ohio deputy is accused of ordering inmates to dance the worm and the robot to Usher "Yeah!" in order to get perks, including the use of a microwave. Summit County deputy Dominic Martucci, 35, was fired after he allegedly " told the inmates that if they wanted out of lock up and the microwave back, that they would have to dance for him,” an internal affair report noted. “He let out the [five inmates] and told them to entertain him by dancing...”

The Akron Beacon Journal writes:

The inmates danced their way to regaining use of a microwave that they had lost earlier that day. Another inmate won the right to use the phone and commissary items for his old-school robot dance routine. Martucci blared the music from a smartphone, the report said.

“I did what I had to do so I could use the phone,” the inmate told investigators. A family member had died and he needed to contact relatives, he said. At one point, Martucci signaled a fellow deputy to watch the dance.

“Stop and watch this, it’s going to be funny,” he said, according to the report.

One inmate said he "messed up" and faced a trip to "the hole."

Martucci told investigators that his actions were wrong, but he only wanted to "lighten the tension." One of the five deputies who watched the inmates dance said the inmates were laughing. No action has been taken against the deputies who watched.