Geiger officer accused of rape

A veteran corrections officer at Spokane County’s Geiger Corrections Center resigned Thursday, a day after a female inmate accused him of rape.

Director Leon Long said the 59-year-old corrections officer had been placed on paid leave, pending a sheriff’s investigation, when he resigned.

Long and sheriff’s spokesman Cpl. Dave Reagan declined to identify the officer, who had been on the payroll about 18 years. The accused man was not taken into custody but remains under investigation.

The alleged victim’s age was not immediately available, but Long said she was serving time for a drug conviction. He said the rape is alleged to have occurred between 9:30 and 10 a.m. Wednesday, when the corrections officer escorted the woman from a dormitory to the nearby women’s recreation center.

Because the woman was a trusted prisoner, she was supposed to have been left alone to clean the recreation center. But she told authorities the officer raped her in the otherwise unoccupied recreation center.

Authorities found out about the alleged rape when the woman told one of her friends, who told a drug counselor. The counselor alerted the corrections staff at 11 a.m. Wednesday, and the alleged victim was interviewed.

Long said the woman was cooperative. She gave biological samples that will be analyzed for physical evidence.

“It’s totally in the sheriff’s hands right now,” Long said.

He said the accused corrections officer had no history of discipline.

Corrections officers are paid $2,766 to $3,733 per month.

Standard procedure for transporting trusties from one building to another is to have them accompanied by one officer of either gender, Long said. He said the officer who resigned was not pressured to quit.