A former Chatham County jail correctional officer on Wednesday was indicted on charges he sexually assaulted a person in custody at the jail.
Lewis Dion Lane, 34, touched the inmate inappropriately between Aug. 10, 2012, and Feb. 28, the Chatham County grand jury said.
The same indictment also charged Lane with criminal attempt to commit sexual assault against a person in custody between Jan. 2 and Feb. 18 during an exchange in the inmate’s cell.
Lane surrendered to officials earlier on a warrant charging him in the case. He has been released from jail.
Lane started with the sheriff’s department July 19, 2010, and was terminated Feb. 27, sheriff’s spokeswoman Cpl. Rhonda Bryant-Elleby said.
It was the second such case against a former sheriff’s department employee returned by a Chatham County grand jury this year.
Roy Harris, Sheriff Al St Lawrence’s chief deputy and a retired veteran Georgia Bureau of Investigation official, said his department “very vigorously investigates and prosecutes employees for violation of the law.” Those include not only employees but contractors, he said.
Those violations include sexual contact or sexual assault on inmates, he said.
By Georgia law, an inmate cannot give consent to sexual contact, he said, adding it’s a felony.
Such cases are investigated by internal affairs and sex offender units and turned over to the district attorney when merited, Harris said.