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Jail officer suspended after sex act alleged
Incident with inmate occurred in February
Wednesday, June 24, 2009
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A St. Mary's correctional officer has been suspended from work as she stands accused of a sex act with a man serving time in jail last winter, after court pleas resolved charges that he injured two law officers.
Deborah A. Bartholow, 44, of Country Lakes was suspended without pay, the sheriff's office reported last week, after she was charged through a summons with the offense of engaging in sexual contact on Feb. 20 with the inmate, identified in court papers as 22-year-old Charles Edwin Compton.
Bartholow has been a correctional officer at the detention center for four years. A conviction for the misdemeanor charge obtained by St. Mary's detectives carries a maximum penalty of three years in jail.
The incident, in which Bartholow is accused in court papers of manually stimulating the inmate, allegedly occurred in an area of the detention center that is not monitored by cameras, sheriff's spokesperson Cindy Allen said Tuesday.
"It came to light as a result of another investigation that we have going on," Allen said. "It took some time to investigate [the allegation], and she was charged once it was verified that it had been committed."
Allen said there were no indications from the investigation of a financial aspect to the alleged misconduct.
Beginning in 2007, Compton has served an 18-month sentence for resisting arrest and currently is serving an 18-month sentence for resisting arrest and the possession of cocaine. He wrote to a judge earlier this month asking that a third 18-month sentence for the possession of cocaine and driving with a suspended license be dismissed, and court records indicate a judge will review the request in October.
Through the plea agreements in Compton's cases, prosecutors dismissed a charge that he injured sheriff's Cpl. Todd Fleenor in April 2007 by punching the officer in the eye as he wrestled with another suspect. Charging papers alleged that Compton shouted a racial slur at another officer during that incident.
In the plea agreement from another case, prosecutors dismissed a charge that Compton injured sheriff's Cpl. Clayton Safford by shoving him during a June 2006 foot chase on Route 244 near Leonardtown, where both men ultimately fell to the pavement during a struggle.
Compton's recent letter to the court noted his completion of the jail's culinary arts program and work-incentive service at a county museum.
"The 26 months that I got in now has not gone by wasted," Compton wrote.
