Ex-jailer arrested 9 years later
A former Chattanooga corrections officer was arrested Thursday and charged with sexual contact with a prisoner. He had avoided authorities for nine years.
The warrant for 43-year-old Jeffrey Helton's arrest was issued in September 2003 when Helton worked at the Silverdale Detention Center. He worked the day shift in the women's unit, the affidavit states. When one inmate left her cell for her cleaning job, the pair had consensual sex in a closet, according to the report.
It is illegal for a corrections officer to have sex with an inmate.
Another officer learned about the incident and reported it to authorities. Helton, who lives in Trenton, Ga., was booked in the Hamilton County Jail on Thursday and bond was set at $500.
$130,000 bond set in rape case
A Chattanooga man was charged with rape Thursday after his DNA was found on the victim.
The victim said the suspect, Keith Williams, 47, was her aunt's boyfriend.
The victim was sleeping on her aunt's couch when Williams knocked on the door, the report states. The victim opened the door for Williams and lay back down on the couch. He then he raped her, she said.
Williams agreed that the victim opened the door for him, but he said she ran out of the house and he went outside to look for her. He said when he returned, the police were at the house.
He provided a sample of his DNA, which matched the DNA found during a sexual assault exam.
He is being held in the Hamilton County Jail on a $130,000 bond.