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Aug. 11--DENVER - For the second time within a year, a former female employee at a Florence prison has been charged with having sex with a male inmate.
A federal grand jury this week indicted Debby Marie Stotler for sexual abuse of a ward. That is the term used in federal law for an employee having sex, consensual or not, with an inmate.
The indictment accuses Stotler, 48, of Penrose of having sex with an inmate between Jan. 1 and Jan. 15 at the Federal Correctional Institution.
The indictment does not specify how many times or under what circumstances the alleged sexual activity occurred and a spokesman for federal prosecutors would not elaborate.
A person familiar with the case said Stotler worked in a medical facility at the prison and was terminated.
In May, a former teacher at the same prison, Elizabeth Medina of Pueblo, was sentenced to two months of home detention for the same crime with a different inmate. She admitted having sex with her inmate lover from May to September last year.
Stotler faces a potentially more severe penalty because the crime was a misdemeanor when Medina committed it, but Congress changed it to a felony.
Federal authorities have said that improper relationships between staff and inmates create security problems and other problems in prisons.
Agent Paul Sullivan of the U.S. Justice Department's office of inspector general investigated the case against Stotler. The prison is part of the Justice Department and the inspector general's staff investigates suspected crimes by department employees.
Assistant U.S. Attorney Habib Nasrullah, who prosecuted Medina, also is prosecuting Stotler.
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Copyright (c) 2006, The Pueblo Chieftain, Colo.
Distributed by McClatchy-Tribune Business News.
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