The Dublin Federal Correctional Establishment is photographed in Dublin, Calif., on Friday, Sept. 13, 2019. TV actress Felicity Huffman was sentenced to 14 days in federal jail by a federal court docket choose on Friday for her position in a nationwide school admissions scandal. Huffman may serve the 14 days at FCI in Dublin. (Anda Chu/Bay Space Information Group)
OAKLAND — In an ongoing scandal that has affected all ranges of the Bay Space’s sole federal jail, one other staffer at FCI Dublin has been charged with sexual abuse of an incarcerated girl, court docket information present.
James T. Highhouse, described in court docket information as a “corrections employee and chaplain” on the all-women federal jail, has been charged with 5 federal offenses, 4 of which relate to alleged sexual abuse of a girl who was incarcerated at FCI Dublin. The fifth rely alleges Highhouse lied to federal authorities when the abuse got here to mild.
Highhouse has not been detained, and has not but made his first court docket look, in accordance with court docket information. Highhouse faces as much as 15 years in federal jail if convicted.
The charging paperwork allege that Highhouse abused a single sufferer throughout a time interval that began in Could 15, 2018 and ended Feb. 9, 2019, in accordance with court docket information. Lower than two weeks later, on Feb. 21, 2019, Highhouse allegedly lied to the FBI and Workplace of the Inspector Basic.
Highhouse is just the most recent FCI Dublin worker to face comparable fees; up to now, two different corrections officers, in addition to the jail’s ex-warden, have been charged with sexually abusing incarcerated ladies.
In court docket information, federal prosecutors have painted an image of rampant sexual abuse and workers misconduct; guards allegedly tried to coerce sexual acts by means of preferential remedy, smuggled in presents or allowed ladies privileges like use of a workers phone, pressured ladies into posing for nude photographs, and took steps to cowl their tracks.
In maybe essentially the most flagrant cover-up allegation, the ex-warden, Ray J. Garcia, informed a girl she needn't report the sexual abuse as a result of he was “shut pals” with a Particular Investigative Companies investigator who would defend him if she ever tried to complain, prosecutors say. In one other occasion of oversight by the Bureau of Prisons, then-corrections officer Ross Klinger continued to contact one of his two victims after Klinger was transferred to a different jail, utilizing an alias to conduct video visits and change emails, in accordance with the legal criticism.
Garcia was allegedly discovered with a big cache of nude images when he was arrested. He denied the allegations in a short interview with the FBI, in accordance with the criticism.
The OIG started investigating the jail after the alleged sexual abuse was reported, however up to now has not publicly launched the outcomes of any audits.
On high of the legal fees, the jail faces a federal lawsuit alleging sexual abuse by different staffers. In 2019, a girl who was incarcerated at FCI Dublin sued the jail, accusing guard William Martinez of sexually abusing her and others of serving to cowl it up. In response to the her attorneys — which the defendants have filed court docket papers denying — the warden earlier than Garcia, Charleston Iwuagwu, licensed putting the lady in solitary confinement for 3 months “till she confessed what Martinez had accomplished to her.”