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MANILA, Daggett County — A former employee of a company that provides meals to the Daggett County Jail has been charged with having sexual contact with an inmate and smuggling contraband into the jail.
Erika Marie Lucio was charged Thursday in 8th District Court with five counts of engaging in custodial sexual relations, a third-degree felony, and one count of providing prohibited items in a correctional facility, a class A misdemeanor.
Lucio, 34, was employed by Trinity Services Group Inc., the company contracted to provide inmate meals for the jail, according to Daggett County sheriff's spokeswoman Susie Potter.
Court records indicate Lucio had sexual contact with an inmate beginning in February 2013 but do not identify how long the alleged misconduct lasted or how it was discovered. The online records also don't identify the kind of contraband Lucio is accused of bringing into the facility.
Daggett County Attorney Niel Lund declined to answer questions about the case Friday.
"We are still gathering evidence and cannot comment any further at this point," he wrote in an email to the Deseret News.
The inmate involved in the alleged incidents is a state inmate who was housed at the jail under a contract between Daggett County and the Utah Department of Corrections, Potter said.
For that reason, the allegations were referred to the Department of Corrections for investigation. Corrections spokesman Steve Gehrke confirmed that the department's Law Enforcement Bureau began investigating the case in August.
"During the investigation, the inmate was moved out of the county jail and is now housed in a state facility," Gehrke said, noting that he couldn't release any additional information because the case is still pending.
Gehrke did, however, add that Corrections has "contract monitors" in place to identify issues in county jails where state inmates are housed, and is "constantly working with the jails to ensure a list of standards are met and any issues that emerge are immediately addressed."
State court records show Lucio has no prior criminal history in Utah. Her first court appearance is set for April 11.
