ASSAULT RIFLE TAKEN FROM GUARD ACCUSED OF AFFAIR
DA: He had sex with inmate
An AR-15 assault rifle and a sexually explicit love letter were seized from the Lynn home of a correctional officer following his arrest on charges he was carrying on an illicit relationship with a female inmate at the South Bay jail, authorities said.
Marlon M. Juba, 29, a married dad currently on suspension from the job that paid him $71,000 last year, pleaded not guilty to the improper contact yesterday in South Boston District Court. Juba was ordered held on $20,000 bail by Judge Ernest Sarason Jr.
Sarason also impounded the police report.
The allegations could land the jail guard behind state prison bars for up to five years. Assistant Suffolk District Attorney Amy Martin told Sarason prosecutors aren’t done with him. Besides a grand jury investigation, she said Juba will likely face witness intimidation charges.
In addition to the AR15, Martin said Juba had four other firearms police seized. She said he was licensed to carry at one point, but that license has been rescinded. She did not say when or why.
“Obviously, this is a very serious set of allegations,” Martin said. “That the defendant has attempted to — or already succeeded in — reaching out to witnesses shows that he is trying to evade this type of prosecution.”
Martin said surveillance video at the House of Corrections captured Juba last month going into the female inmate’s cell shortly after 3:15 a.m. and emerging 16 minutes later “adjusting his groin area” and with his belt appearing unbuckled. Juba, she said, was observed going back into the cell for several more minutes.
Martin said the female inmate told police Juba had also supplied her with an iPhone so that the two could write each other notes.
Juba’s attorney Eduardo Masferrer said his client, a 2010 graduate of the University of Massachusetts Boston, has worked for the Suffolk Sheriff’s Department for three years “without incident or any negative reports on him until now.”
Masferrer said outside the courthouse he’ll be looking into whether the female inmate who accused Juba of the affair had a motive to lie.
“He’s explained his actions, denied any involvement, and unfortunately they’re taking the word of individuals who have every motive to lie and say bad things about him as justification for their actions in this case,” Masferrer said.
Juba is due back in court Aug. 23 for a probable cause hearing.