Female Prison Guard On Trial On Sex Assault Charges
Guard Says She Was Set Up After Filing Sexual Harrassment Suit
POSTED: 6:54 p.m. EDT October 13, 2004
UPDATED: 8:09 p.m. EDT October 13, 2004
Story by nbc10.com
NORRISTOWN, Pa. -- A trial began Wednesday for a female prison guard accused of making inappropriate sexual advances to inmates.
Corrections officer Eileen Mayfield is charged with institutional sexual assault.
Two former prisoners said Wednesday that Mayfield made inappropriate advances, but she said that it was all a setup.
Initially, the corrections officer was accused of having sex with inmates in exchange for food, but it turned out that those incidents were alleged to have happened before it was illegal for inmates and guards to have sex.
"She did stuff she wasn't supposed to do and that's all I can really say," said Jason Mascio, 27.
Mascioa said that Mayfield flirted with him and grabbed his rear while he was serving time at the Montgomery County Correctional Facility.
Defense attorney Jeff Sigman said he caught Mascioa in a number of inconsistencies during cross examination on Wednesday.
"He's a liar. He's just not a very good liar. He gave one statement immediately after the alleged event, and then at a preliminary hearing a few months later he gave a different statement under oath, and then today he gives a third rendition," Sigman said.
The former inmate said that he couldn't remember some details from four years ago.
Another former inmate, Jasper Disanto, testified in 2001 and Wednesday that Mayfield brushed up against him in a sexual manner. Sigman said that the contact was incidental and that DiSanto got early release for his testimony.
"As a prisoner his whole life is currying favor. That's all that he does. He lives, eats, walks, talks based upon currying favor," Sigman said.
The most serious case against Mayfield was thrown out in June. Former inmate Gene White testified that he and Mayfield had sex several times and that she would give him hundreds of dollars worth of snacks for sex.
Mayfield admitted to writing one inmate a suggestive letter, but that case was thrown out because before February 1999, it was not illegal for guards and inmates to have sex.
Mayfield's attorney said that the current case is a witch-hunt.
"This case began because my client, after working for 18 years at the prison, filed a sexual harassment suit against Deputy Warden Julio Algren," Sigman said.
Algren has been subpoenaed to testify in Mayfield's case. His sexual harassment case is on hold until the conclusion of Mayfield's trial. The prosecution rested on Wednesday. The defense is expected to call a number of inmates in Mayfield's defense, beginning Thursday.