Prison Sex-Slave Operation Alleged

(AP)  Authorities have charged a western Oklahoma sheriff with coercing and bribing female inmates so he could use them in a sex-slave operation run out of his jail.

Custer County Sheriff Mike Burgess resigned Wednesday just as state prosecutors filed 35 felony charges against him, including 14 counts of second-degree rape, seven counts of forcible oral sodomy and five counts of bribery by a public official.

Burgess, the top officer in the county of 26,000 since 1994, appeared in court Wednesday was released after posting $50,000 bail.

"We are stunned," Undersheriff Kenneth Tidwell said Thursday.

Phone messages left Thursday afternoon at Burgess' home and with his attorney, Steve Huddleston, were not immediately returned.

Among other things, Burgess is accused of having sex with a female drug court participant who was in his custody. The crimes are to have occurred between October 2005 and April 2007.

A federal lawsuit filed in October claims Burgess told one drug court participant he would have her sent to prison if she didn't comply with his sexual demands.

The lawsuit, filed by 12 former inmates, alleges the sheriff's employees had them engage in wet T-shirt contests and offered cigarettes to those who would flash their breasts.

One prisoner alleged she became a jail trusty with more freedom after agreeing to perform a sex act on Burgess, but lost that status when she later refused.

Burgess also faces two counts each of sexual battery, rape by instrumentation and subornation of perjury, and one count each of engaging in a pattern of criminal offenses, indecent exposure and kidnapping.

He could be sentenced to 467 years in prison if convicted on all counts, special prosecutor James Boring said, though a lesser sentence would be more likely.

No one else from the sheriff's department appears to be implicated, Tidwell said.

"The circumstances are certainly regretful," he said.

[ranger1948]

keithle1
We had a case in Missouri several years back. Aguy killed a 12 year old girl and two year old boy. Whe he got to jail the prisoners caught off his sack with a jagged can lid and flushed them down the toilet so they couldn''t sew them back on. Whoops the guards forgot to put him in isolation away from the other prisoners, *** happens. He got life without parole and is daily someone and everyone''s ***.

[ranger1948]

rudy654
I happen to think being called a redneck is something to be proud of. It means having integrity and principles. Now go look those two big words up in the dictionary so you will know what i am talking about.
It is people like you who slander this country and don''t have the balls to defend it. You will continue to hide behind your keyboard and spew your worthless nonsense that you think are facts.

[rudy654-2009]

Posted by ranger1948 at 05:54 AM

I think you need to take your mobility scooter and go to the bathroom, redneck!

[keithle1]

Boy was just trying to get his freak on. Prison isn''t supposed to be fun. It''s punishment. You want HBO, room service & potpourri? Why don''t you try earning an honest living for a change? Then you won''t have to worry about being used like a blo wup s e x doll.

[ranger1948]

rudy654
Haven''t heard any more from you and yes i like women, but not the ones i am related to nor do i like to molest children as someone like you likes to do.

[ranger1948]

pfd572
I was going by the stories i have heard about him in the past. I like a lawman who doesn''t coddl prisoners. However i do not live in Arizona so i cannot commen on what he is really like as you can.

[pfd572]

About Sheriff Burgess. He is an anomaly. Most officers are proud, law-abiding and conscientious. He needs to be held to a higher standard as the senior officer in his community. No deals, no special treatment. This isn''t about prostitution, its about extortion, rape, battery, kidnapping and perjury.

[pfd572]

Next time I''m in trouble I want a liberal cop. The two aren''t mutually exclusive. Yes,liberal cops because they probably won''t infringe on my Constitutional rights, won''t dismiss a woman''s claim, will enforce the law as it is written and not the way they think it should be and won''t be trying to prove something about their manhood. Maybe a conservative officer, as long as he/she isn''t Neanderthal ultra-right conservative.

[pfd572]

Rational 1: sorry, but your facts are incorrect. Jails often are used to hold convicted prisoners. Maybe not in your area, but in other parts of the country. County jails in Arizona hold convicted prisoners for the duration of their sentence.

[pfd572]

ranger1948: unless you live here in Arizona, you have no idea what Joe ''McCarthy'' Arpaio is doing. He could possibly be as big a law-breaker as the Sheriff in this news story. He is a joke, an embarrassment, believes he can re-interpret the Constitution as he goes along and is expensive to the taxpayers. The number of lawsuits filed against him and won is way over $100 million. He uses methods that aren''t even allowed against foreign combatants, trust me, the list is endless. He is a headline ***, sending out multiple press releases every day. He is now profiling and using tactics that are being investigated by the Federal Government for locating illegal immigrants, in the process denying CITIZENS who happen to look hispanic the same rights as everyone else, while at the same time deputies aren''t available to serve/process thousands of arrest warrants for violent criminals, dead beat dads, child abusers and other criminals with real victims. I am no fan of uncontrolled illegal immigration, but he shouldn''t be anyone''s hero.