Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department Investigating Alleged Abuse of Female Inmate

The Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department is investigating disturbing allegations of sexual misconduct by a sheriff’s deputy, perpetrated against a county jail inmate.

According to investigators, a female inmate has alleged that the male deputy asked her to perform sex acts on him as he was escorting her back to a cell in downtown Los Angeles—a request with which she felt obligated to comply. A district attorney’s memo detailing the investigation also noted similar accounts of sexual abuse by other inmates allegedly perpetrated by the deputy.

The allegations are striking, in part, because male deputies are not supposed to be alone with female inmates in areas without surveillance under any circumstances.

"It's out of policy for a reason, specifically to prevent things like this from happening," said sheriff's Cmdr. Keith Swensson, a department spokesman. "We would not allow female inmates to go with male deputies by themselves. … You just don't do that."

The probe comes just weeks after the county approved a settlement with a woman who says she was raped by a Los Angeles County sheriff’s deputy back in 2010.

Read more about the ongoing investigation here.