CHADRON, Neb. (AP) – A Dawes County jailer has been accused of having sex with an inmate and providing inmates with a cellphone.
Court records say 31-year-old Sherry Whitinger is charged with sexual abuse of an inmate and with providing escape implements. Sheriff Karl Dailey said Thursday that Whitinger has been fired and is in custody. Her attorney didn’t immediately return a call from The Associated Press.
Dailey says a review of an attempted escape in September by an inmate who isn’t linked to the sex abuse charge uncovered information that led to a Nebraska State Patrol investigation and the charges. A court document says Whitinger denied having anything to do with the escape attempt.
The inmate whom authorities say had a sexual relationship with Whitinger refused to answer the investigator’s questions.
She is held in the Box Butte County jail in Alliance on $10,000 bond. Whitinger will make her first appearance in Dawes County Court next Wednesday, November 18th.
Sheridan County Attorney Jamian Simmons has been appointed special prosecutor for the case.