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Ex-inmates sue former Trumbull corrections officer
By Ed Runyan
YOUNGSTOWN
Two former female inmates at the Trumbull County jail have filed a federal civil rights lawsuit against Trumbull County officials and a former jail corrections officer for purportedly exploiting them for sexual gratification.
The suit was filed by Michele L. Raferty of Niles and Katie L. Sherman of Madison, Ohio. It names as defendants the county commissioners, sheriff’s office, Sheriff Thomas Altiere, jail supervisor Lt. Eric Shay, former corrections officer Charles Drennen and other unnamed jail employees.
The suit, assigned to Judge Benita Y. Pearson, alleges Drennen was working on the female floor of the jail while Rafferty was incarcerated there from Feb. 12, 2014, to Aug. 13, 2014, and while Sherman was incarcerated there from November 2013 to April 30, 2014.
During night rounds on the female floor, Drennen “often engaged in a pattern of sexual misconduct with female inmates,” the suit says.
“Drennen would tap on the window or door with his flashlight to signal the female to perform for him,” it says. He would bribe Sherman and other inmates to perform sexually for him and would threaten them if they would not submit to illegal strip searches, it says.
Altiere, when asked about the suit, said Thursday that his department conducted an internal-affairs investigation after learning of the allegations in May 2014, spoke with Drennen and wanted him to take a lie-detector test, but Drennen resigned.
When Rafferty and other inmates complained to Drennen about his behavior, according to the lawsuit, Drennen would “intimidate and threaten them.”
Shay, Altiere and others “perpetuated negligent hiring and retention practices” and failed to institute proper training and supervision practices, the suit says.
It also alleges that the defendants “have established a pattern and practice of strip searching and a perpetuation of sexual misconduct” against female inmates.
Altiere said jail policies require probable cause and written authorization from a supervisor for any strip search.
The suit seeks unspecified monetary damages.