Please E-mail suggested additions, comments and/or corrections to Kent@MoreLaw.Com.
Date: 07-14-2023
Case Style:
Case Number: 4:23-cr-00212
Judge: Haywood S Gilliam, Jr
Court: United States District Court for the Northern District of California (Alameda County)
Plaintiff's Attorney: United States Attorney’s Office in Oakland
Defendant's Attorney:
Tim Allen Pori for Nunley
Galia Amram for Jones
Description: Oakland, California criminal defense lawyers represented Defendants charged with sexual abuse of a ward, abusive sexual contact and making false statements to a government agency.
Nakie Nunley and Andrew Jones, were indicted for sexually abusing multiple female inmates. The two officers were each charged by Information with multiple counts of sexually abusing female inmates and then lying about the abuse to federal investigators. Both Nunley and Jones were employed as federal correctional officers at the time of the abuse. Both have agreed to plead guilty in written plea agreements, which were filed concurrently with the charging documents.
“The sexual abuse charges and guilty pleas announced today are the result of the Department of Justice’s sustained commitment to rooting out sexual misconduct at the Bureau of Prisons,” said Deputy Attorney General Lisa O. Monaco. “As these guilty pleas reflect, we will continue to hold accountable correctional officers who abuse their positions of trust and fail to humanely care for those in their custody.”
“This Office’s ongoing investigation into FCI Dublin has revealed significant findings of wrongdoing by multiple correctional officers at that facility,” said U.S. Attorney Ismail J. Ramsey of the Northern District of California. “The Department of Justice has repeatedly warned that criminal misconduct in the care and safety of incarcerated persons will not be tolerated. Correctional officers have an obligation to ensure the safety of incarcerated persons and all Bureau of Prisons employees should view these latest two prosecutions as confirmation that the Department of Justice will do its part to ensure that those who stray from these obligations are held accountable.”
“Nunley and Jones are the seventh and eighth individuals charged with sexually abusing inmates at FCI Dublin. Five individuals, including the Warden and Chaplain, have been convicted of sexual abuse of inmates. The Department of Justice Office of the Inspector General is continuing to investigate these heinous allegations at FCI Dublin and is aggressively pursuing justice for victims of sexual abuse at the hands of rogue BOP employees," said Inspector General Michael E. Horowitz.
“Incarcerated individuals should be able to serve their sentences without fear of being sexually assaulted by correctional institution staff,” said FBI San Francisco Special Agent In Charge Robert Tripp. “Nakie Nunley and Andrew Jones abused their positions and will be held accountable. Protecting civil rights stands among the FBI’s highest priorities, and we will continue to investigate such claims as they come to light.”
Nunley, 48, of Fairfield, was charged with engaging in sexual acts and sexual contacts with five women who were serving prison sentences at FCI Dublin at the time of the abuse. He was also charged with lying to federal investigators about the sexual abuse and writing sexually explicit notes with one of his victims. Jones, 35, of Pleasanton, was charged with engaging in sexual acts with three women who were serving prison sentences at FCI Dublin, as well as lying to federal investigators about sexually abusing one of these victims.
Nakie Nunley
Nunley was employed as a correctional officer at FCI Dublin where he supervised prisoners who worked in UNICOR, a trade name for the federal prison industries. All of Nunley’s victims worked at the UNICOR call center at the time of his abuse. According to his plea agreement, Nunley admits that between March 2020 and November 2021, he engaged in sexual acts with two prisoners, including having oral and vaginal sex with one victim and digitally penetrating another victim on multiple occasions. He also admitted that he engaged in illegal sexual contacts with three other prisoners and that he lied to federal investigators about sexually abusing his victims and about sending one of his victims sexually explicit notes.
In addition to the five victims he is charged with abusing in the Information, Nunley also admitted in his plea agreement that he sexually abused two other prisoners who worked at UNICOR. Nunley admitted that he digitally penetrated one victim’s vagina and caused her to touch his penis under his pants, resulting in him ejaculating in her hand. Nunley admitted that he caused another victim to perform oral sex on him.
Nunley also admitted that he engaged in other inappropriate behavior. For example, Nunley agreed that he wrote sexual notes to one of his victims and made sexual comments to multiple victims. Moreover, when one of his victims approached him about his conduct towards another victim, Nunley threatened her by raising with her the potential that she could be transferred to another facility and that she could lose her job. Similarly, Nunley admitted that he told another victim that if she wanted to keep her job at UNICOR, she needed to pull down her underwear and bend over. When she complied, Nunley slapped her buttocks several times.
Andrew Jones
Jones was employed as a correctional officer at FCI Dublin where he supervised prisoners who worked in the Food Services Department. According to his plea agreement, between July 2020 and June 2021, Jones admitted that he received oral sex from, or had sexual intercourse with, three female prisoners who worked for him in the FCI Dublin kitchen. Jones admitted that he sexually abused these prisoners in multiple places near the FCI Dublin kitchen, including a staff bathroom, a warehouse, and a room where kitchen utensils were kept. In addition, like Nunley, Jones admitted in his plea agreement that he engaged in improper conduct in addition to the conduct for which he was charged in the Information. Specifically, Jones admitted that he also had sexual intercourse and received oral sex from an additional victim on multiple other occasions between July and December 2020, and that he had sexual intercourse with yet another victim multiple times between March and June 2021.
FCI Dublin Investigation
As part of the Department of Justice’s ongoing investigation into FCI Dublin, eight FCI Dublin correctional officers, including the former Warden, have been charged with crimes related to the sexual abuse of the female prisoners at the facility. In December of 2022, former Warden Ray J. Garcia was convicted by a jury of sexually abusive conduct against three female victims and was sentenced to 70 months in prison for his crimes. To date, the tally of correctional officers (“COs”) charged with misconduct as part of the Department of Justice’s investigation are as follows:
Warden Ray J. Garcia
4:21-cr-00429-YGR
Convicted on all counts by jury on December 8, 2022; sentenced to 70 months in prison
CO John Bellhouse
4:22-cr-00066-YGR
Convicted on all counts by jury on June 5, 2023; sentencing scheduled for October 27, 2023
Chaplain James Highhouse
4:22-cr-00016-HSG
Pleaded guilty on February 24, 2022; sentenced to 84 months in prison
CO Enrique Chavez
4:22-cr-00104-YGR
Pleaded guilty on October 27, 2022; sentenced to 20 months in prison
CO Ross Klinger
4:22-cr-00031-YGR
Pleaded guilty on February 10, 2022; sentencing scheduled for December 13, 2023
CO Darrel Smith (a/k/a “Dirty Dick Smith”)
4:22-cr-00110-YGR
Indicted on April 13, 2023; status conference scheduled for August 3, 2023
CO Nakie Nunley
4:23-cr-00213-HSG
Information and Plea Agreement filed on July 13, 2023
CO Andrew Jones
4:23-cr-00212-HSG
Information and Plea Agreement filed on July 13, 2023
These cases are being prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorneys Molly K. Priedeman and Andrew Paulson, with the assistance of Madeline Wachs, Sara Slattery, Christine Tian, Claudia Hyslop, Leeya Kekona, and Kay Konopaske. The prosecutions are the result of an investigation by the DOJ-OIG and the FBI.
Outcome: Defendants elected to plead guilty.
Plaintiff's Experts:
Defendant's Experts:
Comments: