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| Colo. Official Gets Probation for Inmate Sex |
| By Denver Post |
| Published: 05/20/2003 |
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Christine Achenbach, a former prison employee convicted of having sexual relations with two inmates, was sentenced May 15 to five years' probation and four months' home detention. U.S. District Judge Marcia Krieger told Achenbach, 42, that she had no choice but to require her to register as a sex offender for her crimes. 'Even though I personally would not want to see this kind of conviction treated as a sex-offender conviction, I must apply the law as it is written, not as I wish it were written,' Krieger said. Achenbach, convicted in December of two misdemeanor charges of sexual abuse on a ward of the state, probably is not the type of offender for whom such public lists were conceived, Krieger said. She doubted there had been any injury to the two male inmates at the federal maximum security prison in Florence who were legally considered the victims of Achenbach's crimes, she said. The encounters took place in 2000 and 2001 while Achenbach was the executive assistant to the warden - the fourth-highest position at the prison. 'I don't think they felt victimized at all,' Krieger said. 'They probably enjoyed it.' The real victim in Achenbach's case was the public, whose safety could have been compromised by Achenbach's bad judgment, Krieger said. Achenbach was convicted in part because of testimony from her former friend and co-worker, Kellee Kissinger, who admitted to having improper relations behind prison walls. Kissinger, who took a deal from prosecutors that Achenbach refused, got a slightly lesser sentence for her cooperation: four years' probation and a $2,400 fine, with the option of 100 hours' community service in lieu of payment. Given a chance to address the court Thursday, Achenbach apologized. Her voice rough with tears, she admitted she did have a relationship with one inmate; the other charge was false, and she was wrongly convicted on that count, she said. 'It just didn't happen. With regard to the government's deal, I could not ever accept responsibility' for something she did not do, Achenbach said. In addition to the probation and home detention, Achenbach was ordered to pay a $3,000 fine. |
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