Published: May 06, 2008 10:47 pm         

Correctional officer pleads guilty to felony sex crime

LEWISBURG — A correctional officer pleaded guilty Monday to having sex with a female inmate at the Anthony Correctional Center for youthful offenders.

David Wayne Masters, a lieutenant with the state Division of Corrections, was charged with the felony crime of sexual intrusion with an inmate last November.

Since then, Masters, 36, of Renick, waived a grand jury indictment and has been cooperating with prosecutors. An information was filed by prosecutors against Masters in April.

Warden Teresa McCourt previously said Masters had been suspended from work without pay pending the resolution of his criminal case.

State Police began focusing on Masters last summer after the victim provided a recorded statement about alleged sexual assaults to Brad Hudson, director of the Corrections Investigative Division.

The victim told police she and Masters engaged in some 50 separate sex acts between August 2006 and January 2007. The victim also provided investigators with a shirt worn during one of the incidents which was later tested for semen. The victim had kept the shirt in a drawer until turning it over as evidence against the officer.

State Police lab tests later indicated the shirt tested positive for Masters’ semen.

Masters pleaded guilty to one felony count of sexual intrusion of an inmate. Greenbrier County Prosecutor Kevin Hanson said in exchange for the guilty plea no further charges will be investigated against Masters.

Masters was taken into custody while working last November and was released after posting $5,000 bond. A phone listing for Masters could not immediately be found.

The victim was transferred to another correctional facility, police said.

Masters faces up to five years in prison when sentenced by Circuit Judge Joseph P. Pomponio on July 21.

This is the second recent case involving ACC employees and sexual encounters with female inmates. In March 2007, a former case manager at the facility was placed on two years’ probation after pleading guilty to having sex with a female inmate.

— E-mail: cgiggenbach

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