DAWSONVILLE, Ga. – Dawson County detention officer Luciano Pablo Betancourt could land behind the same bars he once guarded if the sheriff’s office investigates the claim that he engaged in illegal sexual misconduct with a female prisoner.

April Finnegan, 31, told Fetch Your News Saturday that during her incarceration in the Dawson County Detention Center, Betancourt “kissed her, put his hand inside her shirt and asked her to send him nude photos of herself.” Finnegan, who was serving a three-month sentence on probation violation and drug possession, said she did not report the incident because she had become attracted to the guard.

“I’m not trying to get him into trouble, even now,” she said. “Everybody in my dorm could tell. Everybody knew what was going on. One of the girls in my dorm even asked him jokingly, ‘Hey Betancourt can you two get married while she’s incarcerated.’”

Consensual or not, if the allegations are true, Betancourt could face serious jail time. Georgia law doesn’t take into account whether sex acts between a prison guard and an inmate are consensual, because guards have inherent authority over prisoners. Congress in 2003 passed the Prison Rape Elimination Act, which calls for corrections systems to have a zero-tolerance policy on prison rape.

Fetch Your News reached out to Sheriff Jeff Johnson to ask if Betancourt, who resigned in lieu of termination last month, is being investigated, but he declined to comment.

Betancourt had a questionable background when he was hired in June 2016 when Billy Carlisle was sheriff. In completing one personnel form, he answered “yes” to this question: “Have you ever illegally possessed, sold, manufactured, used or delivered legal prescription medication.”  He also stated that he had used marijuana more than 50 times as well as “unknown” prescription pills.

In July 2017 he received a written reprimand for a policy violation that states: “Employees shall not fraternize with or engage the personal services of any person in custody; shall not become socially or emotionally involved with prisoners; shall not borrow money or any type of property; or shall not lend money or any property to any person in custody.”

According to that reprimand, “Officer Betancourt had spent time with 2 females in (cell) E-4 every shift he had worked between the dates of June 29 and July15. Betancourt would stop and spend two minutes talking with the 2 females, had the females out cleaning the showers in their whites (shirt and underwear) and remained in the pod while they were off camera in the shower. Betancourt remained at the table nearest the shower where he had full visual contact with the inmates. Thus far, there has been no allegation made by the inmates and Betancourt expresses he does understand the potential for accusations from these behaviors.”

Incidents of sexual misconduct involving jail guards and prisoners have increased in Georgia. In June, Edgar David Johnson was sentenced to 51 months in prison for sexually assaulting three female inmates at the Emanuel Women’s Facility in Swainsboro. That case was investigated by the Federal Bureau of Investigation.

In April, 2017, Jermaine Minor was charged with four counts of sexual misconduct with a person in custody. It marked the third time in 18 months an officer at the Chatham County Jail had been accused of inappropriate contact with an inmate.

 

Fetch Your News is a hyper local news outlet that covers Dawson, Lumpkin, White, Fannin, Gilmer, Pickens, Union, Towns and Murray counties as well as Cherokee County in N.C. FYN attracts 300,000+ page views per month, 3.5 million impressions per month and approximately 15,000 viewers per week on FYNTV.com and up to 60,000 Facebook page reach. If you would like to follow up-to-date local events in any of those counties, please visit us at FetchYourNews.com