12-12-2008, 03:58 AM
http://www.theledger.com/article/200812 ... n_Sex_Case (http://www.theledger.com/article/20081211/NEWS/812110369/1134?Title=Ex_Jail_Deputy_Gets_Probation_in_Sex_Ca se)
Ex-Jail Deputy Gets Probation in Sex Case
By Gary White
THE LEDGER
Published: Thursday, December 11, 2008 at 7:50 p.m.
BARTOW | A former Polk County Jail detention deputy will serve no further time for having sex with an inmate.
Circuit Judge Donald Jacobsen adjudicated Donald Kurns Jr. guilty Thursday morning and sentenced him to five years of probation. Prosecutor Brad Copley had sought a three-year prison sentence.
Kurns, 40, also must surrender his law-enforcement certification. The crime does not require him to register as a sex offender.
Kurns was arrested May 2 on charges that he had a one-time sexual encounter with a 30-year-old female inmate in a bathroom at the Polk County Jail. He resigned in May after 14 years as a detention deputy.
Prosecutors originally charged Kurns with sexual battery, which carries a maximum sentence of 30 years in prison. Kurns accepted a plea deal in October, pleading no contest to a reduced charge of sexual misconduct, a third-degree felony.
Jacobsen could have sentenced Kurns to as much as five years in prison.
The sexual incident occurred in April, according to an arrest report. Kurns told investigators that the sex was consensual, the report said, but the inmate said she felt pressured to have sex in order to retain "trusty" status. That status, available to inmates charged with misdemeanors who exhibit good behavior, can lead to early release.
Even consensual sex with an inmate would violate Polk County Sheriff's Office guidelines.
[ Gary White can be reached at gary.white@theledger.com or at 863-802-7518. ]
This story appeared in print on page B1
Ex-Jail Deputy Gets Probation in Sex Case
By Gary White
THE LEDGER
Published: Thursday, December 11, 2008 at 7:50 p.m.
BARTOW | A former Polk County Jail detention deputy will serve no further time for having sex with an inmate.
Circuit Judge Donald Jacobsen adjudicated Donald Kurns Jr. guilty Thursday morning and sentenced him to five years of probation. Prosecutor Brad Copley had sought a three-year prison sentence.
Kurns, 40, also must surrender his law-enforcement certification. The crime does not require him to register as a sex offender.
Kurns was arrested May 2 on charges that he had a one-time sexual encounter with a 30-year-old female inmate in a bathroom at the Polk County Jail. He resigned in May after 14 years as a detention deputy.
Prosecutors originally charged Kurns with sexual battery, which carries a maximum sentence of 30 years in prison. Kurns accepted a plea deal in October, pleading no contest to a reduced charge of sexual misconduct, a third-degree felony.
Jacobsen could have sentenced Kurns to as much as five years in prison.
The sexual incident occurred in April, according to an arrest report. Kurns told investigators that the sex was consensual, the report said, but the inmate said she felt pressured to have sex in order to retain "trusty" status. That status, available to inmates charged with misdemeanors who exhibit good behavior, can lead to early release.
Even consensual sex with an inmate would violate Polk County Sheriff's Office guidelines.
[ Gary White can be reached at gary.white@theledger.com or at 863-802-7518. ]
This story appeared in print on page B1