05/31/01: Sex with Inmates

[Freakapotimus]

Four accused of having sex with Bucks County inmates

A counselor and three officers are charged with making improper contact with female prisoners.

By Stephanie Doster
INQUIRER SUBURBAN STAFF

Three male Bucks County corrections officers, including a captain who retired last week, and an inmate counselor were charged yesterday with having engaged in sexual acts with female prisoners in what prosecutors call "an abuse of power."

Capt. William McMullen, 45, of Hartsville, and Corrections Officer Jeffrey D. Budd, 43, of Warminster, are each charged with one count of institutional sexual assault.

Sgt. Robert Lee Gilmore Jr., 38, of Perkasie, and counselor Peter J. Doyle, 33, of Warminster, are each charged with two counts of the third-degree felony, which carries a maximum sentence of seven years in prison.

Bucks County District Attorney Diane E. Gibbons said that McMullen, Gilmore and Budd fondled or had sex with inmates and that Doyle traded cigarettes for sex and pornographic letters and asked inmates to expose themselves to him.

Gibbons said the men, each of whom is married, had taken advantage of the physical and mental control they had over the inmates and noted that inmates were entitled to protection and safety while in custody.

"This is not consensual sex; this is a crime," Gibbons said at a news conference. "They used the prison as their personal dating service or harem."

The district attorney added that county detectives had learned of the allegations in February while investigating an unrelated matter. She declined to elaborate.

McMullen, Gilmore and Budd surrendered to Doylestown Township police yesterday morning. Later, after arraignment before District Justice Oliver A. Groman, each was released on $10,000 unsecured bail.

The three later declined comment, as did William Goldman Jr., a lawyer who represented them at the arraignment.

According to the affidavits of probable cause, McMullen, Gilmore and Budd admitted to county detectives that they had engaged in inappropriate contact or sexual acts with inmates.

An arrest warrant, meanwhile, has been issued for Doyle, who voluntarily committed himself to Abington Memorial Hospital last week, according to prosecutors.

John Kerrigan, Doyle's attorney, said his client would surrender to police once he had been released from the hospital but declined further comment.

Gibbons said McMullen, who worked as a corrections officer for 23 years, retired last week after being questioned by detectives.

J. Allen Nesbitt, director of the Bucks County Department of Corrections, said he had not known about the allegations against McMullen at the time.

Gilmore, a corrections officer for 10 years, has been on a workers' compensation leave with a knee injury, and Budd has been on sick leave the last four days, prison officials said.

Nesbitt said Gilmore, Budd and Doyle have been suspended without pay.

[Low-Budget-Superhero]

At 5/31/01 11:41 AM, Freakapotimus wrote: Four accused of having sex with Bucks County inmates

A counselor and three officers are charged with making improper contact with female prisoners.

They're job must be REALLY boring... someone in there needs to light fire to a matress or something like that!

[Raptorman]

This appears to only be a crime because of the position of authority hold by the prepetrator simalure to the Army "proving grounds" scandal a few years back. Although a crime was committed, lets not forget this is not a case of forceible rape and should not be treated as one.