LeFlore County Detention Center Officer Chad Allen Eatman, 29, was charged with second degree rape Monday after he allegedly sexually assaulted an inmate, according to LeFlore County District Attorney Jeff Smith.
A 20-year-old female inmate claimed Eatman forced her have sex with him in the back of a detention center vehicle on Aug. 4 during a transport, according to court documents.
“He took her to a secluded location and performed sex acts with her,” said Smith.
Eatman took the woman to the hospital to get x-rays of her injured ankle and after she was discharged, the officer pulled off the road and parked the car near a business in Poteau, the affidavit states.
The inmate said he unlocked the doors, removed her shackles and made her perform oral sex. Eatman then got into the backseat of the police car and had intercourse with her before taking her back to the jail, according to court documents.
Eatman was questioned about the incident and initially denied it, according to the court documents.
The jail administrator did not want to talk on camera, but told 5NEWS he requires detention officers to call a dispatcher and let them know when they leave and arrive at locations with an inmate.
An investigator with the District Attorney’s office noted a discrepancy in Eatman’s mileage log and the time between the inmate’s discharge from the hospital and when she was returned to the jail. “Any deviation from that route is going to show up on your mileage,” said Smith.
Eatman said that the two had been talking about sex at the hospital and admitted to having sex with her in the back of the police car, however, he claims it was consensual, according to the affidavit.
Smith said even if the sex was consensual, Oklahoma law requires him to still charge Eatman with rape.
“You have an inmate in the detention center. She or he is going to be under the control of whoever the detention officers are,” said Smith. “By that very fact it makes it second degree rape under the statues in the state of Oklahoma.”
Eatman was after the incident, according to the jail administrator. The jail administrator says Eatman worked at the detention center for about a year and never received any disciplinary action before.
Eatman is being held at the Haskell County Detention Center in Stigler on a $15,000 bond.
A second degree rape charge is punishable by one to 15 years in prison.