Oct. 20 (Bloomberg) -- The highest-ranking soldier to be charged in connection with mistreatment of prisoners at Iraq's Abu Ghraib prison pleaded guilty to charges of abusing Iraqis, Army Lieutenant Colonel Steven Boylan, a U.S. military spokesman, said by telephone from Baghdad.

Staff Sergeant Ivan ``Chip'' Frederick, 38, of Buckingham, Virginia, admitted to most elements of the five charges against him: conspiracy to maltreat detainees, maltreatment of detainees, dereliction of duty, assault and indecent acts, Boylan said. He will probably be sentenced tomorrow.

Frederick could receive a sentence of as much as 11 years in prison, forfeiture of pay, a demotion to the rank of private, and a dishonorable discharge from the U.S. Army. He would likely serve any prison time in the U.S., Boylan said.

Frederick told the court-martial at Camp Victory near Baghdad that he threatened a detainee with electrocution, all the while snapping photographs ``to take back home,'' an Associated Press reporter in the courtroom recounted in an e-mailed pool report distributed by the U.S.-led military press operation in Baghdad.

An Army criminal investigator said the prisoner, who was naked and standing on a box in a shower, had information about the bodies of four U.S. soldiers and he wanted the person ``stressed out'' to aid an interrogation, according to the pool report's account of Frederick's testimony. Frederick said he wrapped a wire around the detainee's finger and two other soldiers also attached wires to the person's body.

`I Was Wrong'

``I knew I was wrong at the time because I knew it was a form of abuse,'' Frederick told the court, according to the AP pool report.

Photographs of U.S. guards abusing and humiliating Iraqi prisoners late last year at Abu Ghraib caused an uproar inside and outside Iraq when the pictures were published in April. U.S. lawmakers brought military commanders before congressional hearings to explain the actions, which were described as rogue behavior that violated military standards.

Abu Ghraib was infamous during the regime of former dictator Saddam Hussein as the site where torture and killings of political prisoners took place.

Among the most widely distributed photos were one of naked, hooded prisoners stacked in a pyramid and another of a hooded detainee standing atop a box, with wires attached to his body. Frederick said he warned the wired detainee to remain standing and that if he fell off the box, he would be electrocuted, according to the AP pool report.

`Jumping in the Pile'

On Nov. 8, Frederick said seven criminal suspects were placed in a pyramid because they had been rioting, the AP pool report said. Earlier, the same prisoners, still clothed and wearing handcuffs, were thrown in a pile inside a cell, Frederick said, according to the pool report.

When the court-martial judge, Colonel James Pohl, asked whether Frederick could have stopped it, the sergeant answered, ``Yes, but I didn't,'' according to the pool report. ``I didn't think anyone cared what happened to detainees as long as they didn't die.''

A 26-year-old detainee died today in U.S. custody at Camp Bucca, near the Iraqi town of Umm Qasr, the military said in a statement e-mailed from Baghdad. The cause of death was under investigation. The military said detainees alerted camp guards in the afternoon that the man was ill. He had been held since November, the military said.

Frederick's trial is to continue tomorrow, with testimony from his wife, Marta, and from his former boss, warden Gerald K. Washington of the Buckingham Correctional Facility. Frederick worked as a guard at the Virginia prison before serving in Iraq.

Also testifying will be Captain Donald Reese, commander of the 372nd Military Police Company, and Chief Warrant Officer Kevin Grace of the 519th Military Intelligence Battalion.

Hearings for Sergeant Javal Davis, also implicated in the abuses, and Specialist Charles Graner, the mustachioed Army reservist who appears in many Abu Ghraib photos, will begin later this week. Defense lawyers and military prosecutors will make motions for which witnesses they want to testify and evidence they want submitted, Boylan said.

There is no timetable for when the actual court-martial proceedings against those suspects would begin, he said. Frederick agreed today to assist investigators and testify in further trials, according to the pool report by AP.

To contact the reporter on this story: Demian McLean in Washington at dmclean8@bloomberg.net. Todd Zeranski in New York at tzeranski@bloomberg.net

Last Updated: October 20, 2004 16:20 EDT