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SALT LAKE CITY -- A federal court judge has ruled that a former Utah State Prison guard will pay nearly $1.5 million for the rape of an inmate.
U.S. District Judge Clark Waddoups handed down the order Tuesday for Louis Poleate. He served five years in prison on a third-degree felony rape charge for the 2002 attack.
The then 19-year-old inmate told investigators Poleate took her to a gatehouse and forced her to have sex with him.
According to the victim's mother, Irene, "She said, ‘Mom, he raped me.' I was in shock. I thought, two hours and they didn't do anything, didn't check to see where she was at. How could a guard do that?"
The victim filed a lawsuit against Poleate and the Department of Corrections in 2005. The Salt Lake Tribune reports the department reached an out-of-court settlement for $25,000 without acknowledging liability.
Poleate was released from prison in 2008.
The Tribune says the victim has multiple convictions for assault by a prisoner and has been in and out of prison the past few years.
