Detectives from the Contra Costa County Office of the Sheriff have arrested Contra Costa Deputy Sheriff Patrick Morseman for unlawful sex with an inmate.
On Tuesday, the Office of the Sheriff immediately launched an investigation after receiving allegations of unlawful sex acts with two female county inmates committed by Morseman at the West County Detention Facility. A warrant was obtained for his arrest and a search warrant for his home. Morseman was also placed on administrative leave.
“Within 24 hours of learning of the allegations, we had interviewed the victims, collected and analyzed physical evidence, obtained search warrants, located the suspect, and made the arrest,” said Sheriff David Livingston. “We are now moving forward with termination of employment and providing assistance services to the victims.”
Morseman was arrested yesterday, Wednesday, afternoon. After being interviewed by detectives, he was booked at county jail for engaging in sexual activity with a consenting adult in a detention facility. Morseman was being held in lieu of $100,000 bail and has since bailed out.
The investigation is ongoing and the case will be presented to the D.A.’s Office for the filing of formal charges.
“The actions of this one deputy are criminal, offensive and do not reflect on the good work of the other one-thousand employees of the Office of the Sheriff,” said Sheriff Livingston. “We will work closely with the District Attorney to see the deputy is held accountable and make every effort to regain the public trust we work so hard to earn.”
The Sheriff’s Department has a high turnover rate as their pay rate is lower than neighboring counties. Apparently you get what you pay for.
Never been there and don’t wan to be but I would guess that sex is a big commodity in jail. Is it common for male guards to have contct with female inmates? Don’t they have female deputies? I don’t know I just know I never want to be there.
Terrible but I can see it happening.
So the inmate(s) initiated the encounters? Or at least agreed to them?
This is the main reason I think men should guard men and women should guard women. It violates the civil rights act, but it’s better than men having sex with female inmates. Pathetic.
It is a sad truth that sex is used as an effective bargaining chip in lockup and that inmates of both sexes can groom their guards for sexual encounters used later to blackmail them into gaining special privileges or contraband into jail. Termination and prosecution is the known penalty and anyone who defies the law on the subject gets what he or she deserves. You’re out you lose – game over.
I read in another article that this guy was making $150K. Those Martinez cops looking for better pay might want to jump on this opening.
atTom – Phrasing – given the topic.
@Tom $150K is fake news… https://transparentcalifornia.com/salaries/2016/contra-costa-county/patrick-morseman/
It’s getting really hard to tell the good guys from the bad guys around here lately.
@Pamela – Sorry. How is it fake news? $157K is his total compensation. Sounds like it’s more than those guys Martinez are making. This guy threw away his career. The police officers in Martinez might as well take advantage and get their resume in.
For people who don’t have “total compensation packages” in the workforce, they don’t realize when you quote a figure, it includes compensation above your base salary. My total compensation is more than double my salary. Minimum wage plus free parking in a large city.
In these times I think I would be REALLY protective of a $150,000 a year job. I wouldn’t want to lose it by doing something stupid, like — o never mind.
Dude. Not good.
Wow, that deer-in-the-headlights mug shot says it all. You are now on the inside looking out and everyone outside sees you as the creep. Good luck making new friends on the cell block. Make sure to tell your new friends that you were a law enforcement officer abusing those in your charge. Everyone will think that’s awesome. Tell ’em!
@Tom – Whatever! It’s not what he makes and most don’t include what they don’t see in their paycheck as what they make. https://www.mercurynews.com/2015/04/21/fleeing-deputies-drive-call-for-higher-salaries-in-contra-costa-county/
@Tom Blair your missing the point of what the Martinez officer are asking (as so many others are because they mayor has tried to spin the story). They need more officers to get to staffing levels. This would ensure the city to offer school resource officer, homeless and mental health resource officer’s and more than 4 officer patrolling the city during a shift. Now unfortunately that requires the city of Martinez to pay more since they current pay around 17.5% less than comparable city’s and equal pay for equal work right! It would also remove some of the pressure the officer have with filling vacant shift. As a Martinez officer’s wife it is hard to explain to my 3 yo why daddy is working 5 12 shifts a week because he has to fill those vacant shift. He is given up time he could be spending with his family to work, not because he wants to but has to.
@Veronica – Thanks, Veronica. Nice to hear from someone on “the home front!” Thanks for writing.
Smile! You’re busted!!
The law is a form of “Statutory Rape” where the women are deemed incapable of giving effective consent, even if they actually consent. I get the paternalistic and well meaning policy of having this rule to avoid sexual extortion, but, if the women confirm that the conduct was fully consensual and not extortionate, I would fire the guard, but not imprison him. If it was non consensual (or under duress), I would punish him as a (normal way) rapist. I would start with the presumption that the women (inmates) were extorted for sex (in other words, the women would have to confirm willing consent).
@Chris – Don’t forget the Stanford prison experiment. I don’t think “consensual” sex between an inmate and deputy is truly consensual given the power dynamics.