By Jazmine Ulloa
Austin American-Statesman
AUSTIN, Texas — A former Travis County corrections officer served a day in jail this month after he was arrested in August 2011 on an accusation of attacking an inmate.
Benjamin Arriola, 26, had initially been facing a charge of improper sexual activity with a person in custody, a state jail felony punishable by up two years incarceration. He instead pleaded guilty to a count of official oppression, a class A misdemeanor, and was sentenced to a day in jail, according to records filed March 5 in Travis County district court.
The victim, a defendant charged with family violence assault, reported the incident to officials more than a week after it occurred, according to an arrest warrant affidavit. The 21-year-old inmate told deputies that Arriola came into his cell and sexually assaulted him, and surveillance video showed the corrections officer walking into the inmate’s cell at the same date and time as the victim reported, the affidavit said.
Arriola, who was fired after the incident, had been hired by the Travis County sheriff’s office in May 2008, spokesman Roger Wade said at the time. Wade said officials did not believe there were any more victims.
Assistant District Attorney Susan Oswalt said that the plea and resulting punishment were “in the interest of justice after we examined the case and looked into all facts.”
Defense lawyer Jon Evans said the case “was resolved in a way that made no one happy.”
“The alleged victim in the case had made several previous false allegations against other officers,” Evans said. “Unfortunately in this case, Mr. Arriola had given an incriminating statement to police prior to his hiring a lawyer. Thus, we ended up resolving the case with the conviction.”
Arriola will not be able to serve as a corrections officer in the future, which Evans said was “the real punishment.”