BALDWIN COUNTY, Ga. — Two former Baldwin County jail employees are now charged with sexually assaulting a female inmate.
That's according to Special Agent in Charge Mary H. Chandler with the Georgia Bureau of Investigation.
On March 17, Baldwin County Sheriff Bill Massee says he received a letter from a local attorney.
"The attorney made allegations against two of our employees," said Massee.
Those employees were 20-year-old Christopher Dumas Junior, and 37-year-old Mario Ward.
Massee says he was told that Dumas and Ward sexually assaulted a Baldwin County inmate back in December.
Massee says he asked the GBI to help.
"Within a week or 10 days, they had confirmed that these allegations were correct," said Massee.
Mary Chandler, special agent in charge of the GBI's Milledgeville office, says the two were arrested on Friday.
They are charged with sexual assault by person in disciplinary authority.
Massee said the alleged sexual contact with the inmate was consensual but still illegal.
"If someone is in a jail or correctional facility, you can have no contact with them consensual or not," said Massee. "They were both charged under this statute."
Ward was fired on the day of the arrest, the 26th.
Dumas was fired 10 days before, prior to Massee receiving the letter.
Massee said, "Through an internal investigation in the Baldwin County jail, we determined Mr. Dumas was bringing contraband into our facility."
Dumas had been working at the jail for less than a year.
Mario Ward worked there for about five years.
"All of the other employees in the jail were very disappointed in these two individuals because, to be quite candid, they were both really well-liked employees," said Massee.
The two men have since been released on $25,000 bond each.
Sheriff Massee says the inmate has since been moved from the Baldwin County jail to another jail in Central Georgia.
At this point, Chandler and Massee both declined to talk about details of what happened saying the case is still under investigation.
The GBI is still following up on the investigation before the case is turned over to the district attorney's office.
