Feb. 10 (UPI) -- Prosecutors charged a 44-year-old New Mexico man with sexually assaulting a female pretrial detainee during a prisoner transport to Colorado.
An unsealed indictment said that Marquet Johnson, committed the alleged crime while working as a private prisoner transport officer for the Inmate Services Corporation. The company is hired by local jails and prisons to transport people arrested with out-of-state warrants.
Johnson is charged with acting under color of law to willfully deprive a female pretrial detainee whom he was transporting to Colorado of her constitutional right to bodily integrity.
The indictment accuses Johnson of use of a dangerous weapon and aggravated sexual abuse. The second count charges Johnson carried and brandished a firearm in furtherance of this crime.
If convicted, Johnson could be sentenced from seven years to life in prison. The Justice Department said the investigation is ongoing and the probe is continuing with the assistance of the FBI Albuquerque Field Office and the Bernalillo County Sheriff's Office.
