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Ex-corrections officer sentenced to 10 months for sex with inmate
It was early afternoon on June 22, 2008, and corrections officer Aaron Fields was on duty at the Federal Detention Center. And he was needy.
He had been asked to conduct a trash call on his unit and called another corrections officer in a different section of the unit to send him a trash orderly. Fields asked for a female inmate by name.
When the inmate arrived, Fields escorted her off the unit a few minutes later.
About a half-hour later, according to court filings, an employee at the FDC, on 7th and Arch streets, got off an elevator in the basement of the facility and observed the female inmate - identified only as "J.S." in court documents - bent over with her pants and underwear pulled down below her knees.
Fields was standing directly behind her with his pants unzipped. As soon as they saw the employee, J.S. immediately pulled her pants up and Fields began to close his zipper, court papers said.
Fields, 33, of Mount Holly, N.J., was later charged with engaging in sexual abuse of an inmate in January. He pleaded guilty in February.
Yesterday, Fields paid the price for his sexcapade. U.S. District Judge Michael M. Baylson sentenced the former corrections officer to 10 months behind bars, within the advisory guideline range.
Fields, who has been free on $10,000 unsecured bond since his plea in February, was ordered to surrender to the Bureau of Prisons on Aug. 24.
Before sentencing, Fields apologized for his behavior. He explained that he was "going through a hard time in [his] marriage . . . Unfortunately, the victim in this case made me feel whole."
Fields' family described his crime as an "aberration" in an otherwise exemplary life.
Assistant U.S. Attorney Anita Eve noted, however, that there was more than one instance of inappropriate contact between Fields and the inmate. "We're not talking about a youthful indiscretion here," she said.
When Fields was confronted by his superiors at the time of the incident, he provided a written statement admitting he began having sex with J.S. in May 2008 and had sex with her on June 22, 2008, as observed by the FDC employee, the feds' plea memorandum said.
Earlier, testifying for the government, FDC warden Troy Levi said that Fields was a respected corrections officer who "broke the trust" of him and his staff and "stepped over the line."
There is no evidence in the case that Fields ever forced himself on the female inmate.
Defense attorney Allan Sagot had argued for a lengthy period of house arrest for Fields, saying he was "truly fearful" for Fields' safety if he were sent to prison, noting that there are inmates who "would like nothing better than to take out" somebody who was once a corrections officer.
But Judge Baylson was not persuaded by the defense attorney's argument.
"I believe when a public official commits a crime, prison is almost always the appropriate sentence," Baylson said.
He reminded Sagot that a federal judge in Texas was recently sent off to prison for 33 months for sexually abusing two female employees. *
