JACKSON, Miss. (AP) - A former deputy sheriff has been indicted on charges that he sexually abused a female Mississippi inmate four times in 2016.
Charles Johnson, a 43-year-old Magee man, was indicted last week in federal court on four counts of depriving someone of their civil rights.
The indictment says Johnson, then a Smith County deputy, abused the same woman four times from April 2016 through November 2016 in the county’s jail.
Johnson is jailed pending a Tuesday bail hearing after making his first appearance on Monday.
A lawyer for Johnson declines comment.
The case is scheduled for trial on Aug. 5.
If convicted, Johnson faces a maximum penalty of life in federal prison, although he’d likely get less if a judge followed typical federal sentencing guidelines.
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