North Carolina inmate pleads guilty to assaulting officer

RALEIGH, N.C. (AP) — A federal prosecutor says an Arizona man being held at a federal prison in North Carolina has pleaded guilty to charges that he assaulted an officer at a medical center. U.S. Attorney Michael Easley says court documents show 47-year-old Michael Anthony Mata, an inmate at the Federal Medical Center in Butner, struck the law enforcement officer in the face after the officer told him he was in an unauthorized area and asked him to return to his assigned housing unit. The officer suffered a fracture to his left orbital wall. Mata is scheduled to be sentenced in June.