A federal judge set a $25,000 bond for Wilcox County Sheriff Stacy Bloodsworth and ordered the sheriff to resign immediately, according to U.S. Attorney Michael Moore.

Bloodsworth, who appeared Tuesday in federal court in Macon, was indicted along with his son, a jailer and a county jail inmate last week.

Bloodsworth is accused of violating inmates’ civil rights by assaulting them and conspiring with Austin Bloodsworth, Casey Owens and Willie James Caruthers to lie about how the inmates became injured.

While on bond, the sheriff will be monitored electronically, have a curfew and undergo testing for alcohol and drug use. He can’t have access to guns, Moore said.

As a condition of his bond, the sheriff also must agree not to run for election while the criminal charges against him are pending, Moore said.

A $25,000 bond also was set for Austin Bloodsworth, who is a sheriff’s office employee, and for Caruthers, who was a jail inmate at the time of the alleged assaults.

Jailer Casey Owens did not appear in court Tuesday. It wasn’t clear whether he has been taken into custody.

To contact writer Amy Leigh Womack, call 744-4398.