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LAYTON, Utah (AP) — The lawyer for a former Davis County sheriff's deputy accused of forcing a female inmate into a sex act claims the woman had planned to blackmail any officer she could get in a compromising position to gain drugs and alcohol while in jail.
The woman testified Thursday that 53-year-old Michael Mueller forced her into the act in 2014 and denied there was any conspiracy, according to The (Ogden) Standard-Examiner.
Mueller was fired shortly after an internal investigation in September 2014. He was charged in January 2015 with one count of custodial sexual relations, a third-degree felony.
The woman said the two had kissed before and that Mueller had given her makeup and batteries as gifts. But she testified in 2nd District Court in Layton on Thursday that she felt violated and didn't know what to do when Mueller later forced her to perform the sex act in a closet.
"I was very shocked and trying to escape," she testified. "I said, 'I need to get back to my cell.'"
Mueller told investigators that he had kissed the female inmate and also had given her gifts, which is against the sheriff's office policy, but he denied having her perform oral sex on him.
The trial was continuing Friday and expected to wrap up Monday.
Rich Gallegos, Mueller's defense attorney, said in opening arguments that the woman had planned from the beginning to use such an opportunity to blackmail a deputy. He said the witnesses will include former inmates who said they knew about her plan, as well as deputies who said the woman flirted with them.
The female inmate told the eight-person jury that her criminal record includes a federal conviction for conspiracy to distribute oxycodone. She said she was addicted to methamphetamine and opiates when she was booked into the Davis County jail July 31, 2014 for violating her probation.
The woman said the forced sex act occurred Sept. 13 of that year. She said she told a fellow inmate about the incident when she returned to her cell.
"I couldn't believe what had just happened," she said.
Deputy Davis County Attorney Susan Hunt said the investigation conducted by the Farmington Police Department began when another female inmate reported the relationship to a deputy.
Hunt said the woman believed she had to do whatever Mueller wanted because he was a deputy.
"It does not matter if the sex was consensual," Hunt said. "That's not the issue."
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Information from: Standard-Examiner, http://www.standard.net
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