Morgantown jail officer charged with sexually abusing three women also sued www.privateofficer.com

MORGANTOWN, W.Va.Sept23 2012 — A jail guard charged with sexually abusing three women at a WestVirginia lockup since May has been accused of misconduct before and has beensued 11 times for similar allegations, a lawyer for alleged victims saidFriday.
William Roy Wilson, 29, of Beckley, was being held on $75,000 bondFriday in an isolation cell at the same Beaver jail where he's worked sinceSeptember 2008. State Police charged him Thursday with four counts ofimposition of sexual acts of persons under supervision, saying he gave SouthernRegional jail inmates cigarettes in exchange for sex. It is the first criminalcharge Wilsonhas faced, said Trooper 1st Class M.S. Efird.
However, attorney Mike Woelfel, who has sued correctionalofficials dozens of times for sexual assault and harassment in West Virginia facilities, said the civil cases against Wilson go back to 2010.Two were settled for terms Woelfel said he could not disclose, and nine arestill pending in Kanawha County Circuit Court.
"He continued to work as recently as 10 days ago — andwas still working despite these other allegations," Woelfel said Friday,declining further comment.
Ashley Bennett, a spokeswoman for the West Virginia RegionalJail and Correctional Facilities Authority, said she couldn't comment onwhether there had been previous claims against Wilson because authority attorneys who haveaccess to that information weren't available.
The arrest, however, came after inmates complained to theauthority, she said. After an internal investigation, the case was turned overto State Police.
"That's what happens anytime allegations are raisedthat staff might be involved in something illegal," Bennett said.
Wilsonhas been at Southern Regional since 2008 but has not worked at any other statejails, she said.
It wasn't immediately clear whether he has an attorney inthe criminal case.
Woelfel has filed more than 50 cases against the JailAuthority and the West Virginia Division of Corrections, as well as casesagainst individual officers. He started in 2009, alleging a widespread patternof sexual misconduct by male guards that was particularly acute at SouthernRegional, the Beckley Correctional Centerin Raleigh Countyand the Lakin CorrectionalCenter in Mason County.
The abuse also came in all forms, the complaints say, fromasking women to expose themselves or have sex with each other to peeping intobathroom stalls and showers. In some cases, guards exposed themselves andmasturbated.
The lawsuits accuse the state of multiple acts ofnegligence, including failures of training, supervision and intervention.
The Department of Military Affairs and Public Safety haspreviously said that it takes all accusations seriously and investigates themthoroughly.
Source-CBS