Ex-deputy faces felony sex charges
Inmates allege assaults while he was on duty at jail
A former Contra Costa County sheriff ’s deputy accused of having sex with female inmates while on duty at a Richmond jail was charged with four felonies, prosecutors said Friday.
Patrick Morseman, a 27-yearold Vallejo resident, faces up to five years in state prison for the sex acts allegedly committed March 31 at the West County Detention Facility.
The Contra Costa County district attorney’s office charged Morseman with four counts of “sexual activity with a confined consenting adult.”
Yet one of the women told The Chronicle that neither she nor her cellmate consented to the sex, making it rape. One of them said Morseman gave her $300 to stay quiet. A spokesman for the sheriff ’s office confirmed a transfer of funds.
Neama Rahmani, an attorney representing the two women, said they were disappointed with the charging decision.
“Our position remains the same,” he said. “This was a non-consensual sexual encounter.”
The California statute under which a law enforcement officer can be charged with having unlawful sex with a jail inmate uses the term “consenting adult,” but specifies that consent is not a defense, said Scott Alonso, a spokesman for the district attorney’s office.
In general, he said, new evidence could always change the charges as the case moves forward.
Phyllis Redmond, chief assistant district attorney, said that after reviewing the evidence she has seen, “We filed based on what we can prove to a judge or a jury beyond a reasonable doubt.” She called Morseman’s actions an “abuse of authority.”
“This is very serious conduct,” she said. “Obviously a confinement situation in a jail — there is an imbalance of power.”
Prosecutors said in the complaint filed Thursday that Morseman engaged in oral copulation and had sexual intercourse with both of the women. One of them has since been released from jail.
Morseman was arrested April 4 and later released on $100,000 bail. He had worked as a deputy for 2½ years.
Redmond said a new warrant has been issued for Morseman’s arrest and that she will ask for his bail to be set at $200,000.
Rahmani’s office has filed a civil claim with the county seeking damages, a precursor to a lawsuit.