A former California federal correctional officer whom prosecutors allege had started calling a female inmate “his ‘girlfriend’” has been found guilty of sexual misconduct.
John Bellhouse, 40, is now set to be sentenced in August after being convicted this week of five counts of sexual abuse involving two women at FCI Dublin, outside of Oakland, between 2019 and 2020.
Prosecutors alleged in court documents that Bellhouse “began to express an interest in a particular female inmate and started calling the inmate his ‘girlfriend’” in 2020. Authorities said he inappropriately touched the woman and that she performed oral sex on Bellhouse twice in the prison’s safety office.
Prosecutors also said Bellhouse allowed one woman to use an office phone — a violation of Bureau of Prisons policy — and gave her earrings. Another inmate was tasked to act like a lookout during at least one of the sexual encounters, according to prosecutors.
FORMER CALIFORNIA PRISON OFFICER CHARGED WITH SEXUALLY ASSAULTING 13 FEMALE INMATES OVER THE PAST 9 YEARS
“My clients feel heard,” Jessica Heard, a civil attorney representing one of the women, told KTVU. “Thank you to the jury for listening to their voices and delivering justice. Change is happening… Regardless of a prisoner’s crime, sexual assault is not part of their punishment.”
Bellhouse is the sixth employee at FCI Dublin to be charged with sexually abusing inmates, according to The Associated Press.
FCI Dublin is exclusively a women’s minimum-security prison and houses 1,235 inmates.
In December, former warden Ray Garcia was found guilty of molesting inmates and forcing them to pose naked in cells and has since been sentenced to six years behind bars, the news agency reports.
FEDERAL PRISON WORKER IN CALIFORNIA PLEADS GUILTY TO SEXUALLY ABUSING INMATES
When the verdict was read against Bellhouse on Monday, he had tears in his eyes, a juror said to KTVU.
During both the Bellhouse and Garcia trials, the…
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