By Jeff Proctor
Albuquerque Journal
BERNALILLO, N.M. — A Bernalillo County jail officer has been charged with raping two female inmates and helping another prisoner — a former guard at another facility — rape one of them in yet another incident of alleged sexual misconduct at the Metropolitan Detention Center.
Sgt. Torry Chambers — who is on paid administrative leave and has bonded out of jail — was charged Tuesday morning with raping two female inmates.
He is the fourth guard accused of having sex with an inmate since September 2009.
Chambers, 35, also allowed former Camino Nuevo women’s prison guard Anthony Townes to rape one of the women, according to a criminal complaint filed in Metropolitan Court.
Townes, 36, was being housed at MDC in connection with a case in which he was accused of raping four female inmates while he was a guard at Camino Nuevo.
Late last year, Townes was convicted of that charge and sentenced to 18 years in prison.
On Tuesday afternoon, Chambers posted property in lieu of a $100,000 bond and was released from the jail where he has overseen inmates since 2003.
He is charged with two counts of criminal sexual contact, three counts of criminal sexual penetration and one count of accessory to criminal sexual penetration, according to court and jail records.
Detectives are still “vigorously investigating” the case, Bernalillo County Sheriff’s Capt. Gregg Marcantel told the Journal.
Townes, who was transferred from MDC to the state Department of Corrections in January, “or others” could face charges in the case, he said.
And detectives are looking into whether there are more than two victims, meaning Chambers could face additional charges, Marcantel said.
“When you have someone like this who is in a position of authority, you can’t deny the possibility that there could be more criminal acts associated with a case like this,” he said.
The new allegations are the most recent during a period of turmoil at the massive West Side lockup. Some of the other incidents include:
Repeated allegations of inmate-on-inmate and guardon-inmate beatings that have resulted in numerous charges and discipline
A 41-count indictment against and subsequent firing of Vince Peele, a key figure in the county’s house arrest program, who is accused of taking bribes and stealing inmates’ personal information
More than $2 million in payouts to jail employees for back pay and unpaid overtime
Violations of the Bernalillo County nepotism policy involving outgoing jail director Ron Torres.
Three other MDC guards - Marsha Hunt-Griego, Eric Asbury and Reyna Lujan - have been charged with having sex with inmates. Hunt-Griego was fired; Lujan and Asbury resigned.
It is illegal for jail guards to have sex with inmates, regardless of whether it was consensual. Since the allegations against Chambers and Townes were made public early Tuesday, county officials have placed Chambers on paid administrative leave.
Supervisor change
Officials have also sped up the clock on bringing in new leadership at the jail.
Torres was scheduled to stay on as jail director until mid-January, when newly hired Ramon Rustin is slated to take the reins at MDC.
Instead, county public safety boss Tom Swisstack on Tuesday was named interim jail director effective immediately. Torres, who is keeping his sixfigure salary, has moved to his new position as the county’s liaison to the criminal justice system.
Rustin was hired out of Allegheny County, Penn., to take over the jail after a national search.
“I was informed today of the most recent alleged incident at the (MDC), which leaves me saddened and outraged,” County Commission Chairman Art De La Cruz said in a news release. “As a result of events over the course of the last year at (MDC,) a change in management was affected (sic) and Ramon Rustin will be the jail director effective January 17, 2011.”
According to the news release, De La Cruz requested that County Manager Thaddeus Lucero “take immediate action to ensure the safety of inmates and staff.”
Authorities learned of the allegations against Chambers and Townes from a counselor at a women’s prison, where one of the alleged victims had been transferred.
Allegations
According to the complaint:
Townes had been assigned as the “bay orderly” in the MDC infirmary and had befriended Chambers, who oversaw the unit. The two would tell “dirty jokes” to female inmates and assemble them in the evenings in a single cell, contrary to jail rules.
In April 2008, Townes came to the woman’s cell and raped her. Near the end of the assault, the woman heard Chambers whistle, and Townes left her cell.
After the alleged rape, the woman was assigned to a different pod in the jail, which Chambers was assigned to oversee. He would regularly bring the woman and other female inmates contraband including candy, sodas and makeup.
In August, Chambers had the woman meet him in a converted closet in the jail, where he allegedly raped her. A week later, he had her come to a classroom in the jail and asked her: “How was sex with Townes?”
She was “very uncomfortable but did not know what to do as Chambers was the sergeant in charge of the unit she was assigned to.”
I n October, Cha mbers approached another of the female inmates he would bring contraband to and told her: “You still haven’t paid me back yet.”
He had that woman meet him in the converted closet, where he allegedly raped her.
That woman told authorities she never came forward “because she thought she would get into trouble.”
Copyright 2010 Albuquerque Journal