Ex-jail guard sentenced to 4 months in sex case

A former King County Jail guard convicted in May of custodial sexual misconduct will spend four months in a jail outside King County.

In a courtroom on Friday, Judge Nicole MacInnes condemned the former guard's behavior. "This isn't a date. This isn't a pickup in a bar," said MacInnes. "This is you as a corrections officer and a woman in your control who is virtually powerless."

Harland Richmond, 37, had been found guilty of second-degree sexual misconduct by a King County Superior Court jury for having an intimate relationship with a female inmate. The jury acquitted him on a charge of having sex with another inmate in a storage unit at the jail. The jury could not reach a unanimous decision on two other sexual-misconduct charges.

Richmond's first trial, in August 2006, ended in a mistrial when the jury couldn't reach a verdict. "Whether we're here for one count or three, there really is no difference," said Senior Deputy Prosecuting Attorney Lisa Johnson. "By virtue of the fact that the defendant was convicted on one count, he has abused the trust placed in him as a King County corrections officer."

Seeking leniency on Richmond's behalf, Gary Clark, a retired advocate for incarcerated veterans, attested to the former guard's character and portrayed the female inmates as untrustworthy and sexually aggressive.

Under such conditions and with the inmates providing the bulk of the convicting testimony, Clark warned, "Be mindful of the games inmates play."

MacInnes was unmoved, calling Clark's statements "out of place and inappropriate."

"They do illuminate an important facet of this case, though," said MacInnes. "Mr. Clark exemplifies one end of a spectrum that has no respect for these women inmates. This is why, unfortunately, we had to pass laws like this."

Under state law, even consensual sex between inmates and corrections officers is illegal because officers are in a position of control and authority.

Richmond was sentenced to 12 months, but the judge suspended all but four months of his term, which she said he would serve in a jail other than King County's.

He is one of four King County Jail guards who have been charged in recent years with sexual misconduct.

Former guard Cedric Darnell McGrew pleaded guilty in November to second-degree custodial sexual misconduct and third-degree assault and was sentenced to six months behind bars.

In December, former guard Louis G. Laurencio was sentenced to four months in jail for inappropriately touching a female inmate and photographing her breast.

Lydia Korolak, a former juvenile-detention guard, was given a 17-month sentence this month for having sex with two 17-year-old boys under her supervision at the King County Juvenile Detention Center.

The charges against Korolak were filed after a nearly four-month investigation by Seattle police and the King County Prosecutor's Office into allegations involving sex between corrections officers and inmates at the county's Juvenile Detention Center and the adult jail.

Brad Haynes: 206-464-3301 or bhaynes@seattletimes.com