By Huey Freeman
Herald & Review
DECATUR, Ill. — The jury trial began Monday for Timothy Ware, a former officer at the Decatur Correctional Center charged with official misconduct for allegedly soliciting contact information from female inmates and lying to an investigator about his conduct.
Ware, who was terminated by the Illinois Department of Corrections following his arraignment for the 2012 incidents, is facing two to five years in prison or probation if convicted.
In her opening statement, Assistant Macon County State’s Attorney Lindsey Shelton said Ware repeatedly contacted the women.
“As soon as they were released on parole, this defendant began calling and texting them,” Shelton said. “That is a crime in Illinois.”
Shelton said one of the inmates was contacted by Ware about 11 times, while the other was contacted 1,832 times.
Defense attorney Harvey Welch of Urbana said none of those acts had anything to do with being a correctional officer acting in his official capacity.
A 27-year-old woman testified that she knew Ware as a correctional officer while incarcerated on a narcotics case. She said he asked for her phone number just before she was released.
In response to a question by Shelton, the woman said he did not compliment her often, but “one time told me I have pretty eyes.”
The day she was released, he called her while she was at a Decatur store with her mother. After that he called her and texted her, asking her “to go to dinner, have a drink.”
She did not return his calls and texts, and they stopped coming. She never met with him.
A 24-year-old woman, also incarcerated on a drug charge, said she was contacted by Ware on Facebook five days after her release. He asked for her phone number, then called or texted her “probably every day,” inviting her to “hang out with him,” but she never did.
Steve Spaide, administrative assistant to the warden at the Decatur women’s prison, testified that correctional employees were prohibited from associating with inmates, parolees and former inmates. They were instructed of that during initial training and there were frequent reminders.
“When you have socialization between officers and offenders, that creates a security risk,” Spaide said. “It creates a dangerous situation. Socialization often leads to employees bringing in contraband that poses a risk to safety or security.”
If a correctional employee socializes with a parolee, and the parolee has friends in prison, that could lead to illegal trafficking in goods or sharing of information about the facility that could pose a risk, Spaide testified.
The trial resumes at 9 a.m. today in circuit court.
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