‘Cross that line’: Ex-York County SC jailer pleads guilty to sex acts with inmate
At the York County jail, detention officers process inmates and guard them. They are told from the first day on the job to have no sexual contact with the people waiting for their day in South Carolina court, sheriff officials say.
They also know that cameras cover much of the jail.
On Tuesday, in a Moss Justice Center courtroom in York two floors above the jail, a judge sentenced former detention officer Jerome Alfonzo Taylor, 46, to 90 days in jail for misconduct in office from sex acts with a female inmate while on duty in 2020. Taylor also got 18 months probation for second-degree assault and battery in a plea deal, down from an original charge of sexual misconduct with an inmate.
After sentencing, Taylor was taken into a courtroom holding cell and then booked into the same jail in the basement of the buildings where he once worked.
Some of what happened was caught on jail surveillance cameras despite the jail’s top administrator saying Taylor tried to pan a camera away from the cell door beforehand. Investigators from the State Law Enforcement Division arrested Taylor in 2022. They had Taylor’s DNA in the woman’s cell, prosecutor Grace Kerley said.
The Herald does not name victims of sex crimes.
Kerley, of Spartanburg, handled the case to avoid a conflict of interest with York County prosecutors who work with jail officials.
Official: Jail time important for public trust
In York County, detention officers work for the York County Sheriff. The jail can hold more than 500 inmates.
Administrator John Hicks, the jail’s top official under Sheriff Tony Breeden, told visiting S.C. Circuit Judge Perry Gravely too often officers caught in crimes get only probation. But an active prison sentence sends a message to the public sex acts by detention officers will not be tolerated, Hicks said.
“Being an officer you get trained from day one about sexual misconduct,” Hicks said in court. “Officers know what consequences can happen with sexual contact with an inmate.”
Yet Taylor made a “calculated decision” to try and hide the sex act by moving the camera and leaving his guard post, Hicks said.
“He made that very clear decision,” Hicks said. “This badge means something .... We know we are going to be held to a higher standard. We have gotta get away from officers who cross that line.”
Criminal charges remain pending against a second detention officer arrested two weeks before Taylor in 2022 on sex allegations involving the same woman.
