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Sandra Chapman/13 Investigates
Indianapolis - There are stinging allegations at the Pendleton Juvenile Correctional Facility.
Four female employees were fired for alleged sex acts and sexting with a teen in custody.
The charges stem from a three-month-long breach of trust from June to September 2009.
Four female employees from the kitchen and laundry to guards assigned to oversee inmates are all accused of inappropriate sexual acts with one teenage offender.
"That's a crime as a result of the person being a detainee and the individuals being employees or contract employees with the Department of Correction," said Thomas Broderick Jr., the Madison County Prosecutor handling the case.
Two correctional officers, 26-year-old Rebecca Cole and 25-year-old Aissatou Kebe, face charges of Official Misconduct and Trafficking.
Officer Cole told investigators the teen was "different from the other kids incarcerated...and seemed more mature." She admitted sending sexually explicit photos to a cell phone she knew the 18-year-old kept hidden.
The teen told investigators that "Once he left the facility...he hoped to hook up with Officer Cole...and that he really liked her."
State police also found sexually explicit photos of Kebe on the same phone.
"Supervisors and Staff people are in a position of authority over offenders and that kind of behavior cannot be tolerated," said Department of Correction Spokesman Doug Garrison.
34-year-old Melissa Pfleeger, a food service employee from Anderson, reportedly admitted to performing sex acts with the teen. Investigators say "she had hoped that he would meet up with her once he was outside the facility."
But it was 50-year-old Carol Durant of New Lisbon that the teen alleges gave him the cell phone.
He told investigators Durant "smuggled the cell phone inside of a Subway sandwich."
"Anytime that happens it's an issue of security," explained Broderick.
Durant admitted she performed sex acts for the 18-year-old saying he "Would always tell her that he would make it up to her when he got out of the facility," and that "she enjoyed the attention that she got from [him]."
Just three weeks ago, the Justice Department disclosed their own findings about Pendleton in a troubling report. They found one in three boys serving time at the facility become victims of sexual abuse.
The latest case is now a disturbing picture of what the federal government says is a widespread problem.
An outstanding warrant remains for Kebe's arrest. The three other women were arrested Wednesday night, and have been released pending trial.
