Sheriff’s Deputy Pleads Guilty To Sexual Abuse Of Teenager

Lawyers with the United States Department of Justice (”DOJ”) Civil Rights Division announced in a Press Release at http://www.justice.gov/opa/pr/2009/November/09-crt-1221.html that a former Jackson County, Missouri sheriff’s deputy has pleaded guilty in federal court to violating the civil rights of a teenage girl whom he sexually assaulted in his patrol car.  According to the DOJ’s November 12, 2009 Press Release, the former sheriff’s deputy admitted, as a part of his plea, that while he was a deputy sheriff with the Jackson County Sheriff’s Department, he deprived a 15-year-old girl of her Constitutional rights by sexually assaulting her while she was in his custody.  A DOJ Civil Rights Division lawyer quoted in the Press Release commented that “A law enforcement officer who abuses his authority by sexually assaulting a child not only violates the law, but also the child’s civil rights and the public trust.”  The Civil Rights Division lawyer added that the DOJ will aggressively prosecute violations of Constitutional rights.