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| N.C. Deputy Ordered to Pay $5 Million for Inmate Sex Assault |
| By Associated Press/ Goldsboro News-Argus |
| Published: 12/24/2002 |
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A former Wayne County sheriff's deputy must pay $5 million to a female inmate he sexually assaulted, a federal judge has ruled. Bobby Davis Braswell, who was convicted in May 2001 of having sex with five county jail inmates, must pay the damages to Melissa Lapp Fordham, U.S. District Judge Terrance Boyle ruled. 'I think a message has been sent that if you're a law enforcement officer engaging in this kind of monstrous conduct, you will be punished,' said Gene Riddle, one of Fordham's lawyers. Braswell's lawyer said they did not plan to appeal. Braswell was charged with sexual misconduct between 1997 and 1999, when he resigned from the sheriff's department. He entered an Alford plea to sex assault charges in May 2001, in which he didn't admit guilt but acknowledged the evidence was sufficient to convict him. He was sentenced to 90 days in prison within a two-year period, which he has yet to serve. Four women sued Braswell, Sheriff Carey Winders and Wayne County. Two settled for an undisclosed amount of money last year. In August, Ms. Fordham and Carmen Lee Melvin received a settlement of $125,000 each from the county. The fifth woman did not sue. Besides testimony from Winders and the victims, the court was shown a videotape of Braswell assaulting a woman at her house. 'Braswell was there, in an official capacity, under the pretense of questioning her about information and showing her some photographs,' Riddle said. 'She did not consent.' The assault was stopped by the private investigator who was making the videotape. |
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