LOUISVILLE, KY (WAVE) - Two of three former LaRue County jailers, who are already facing criminal charges are now being sued by five women who say they were abused while they were incarcerated.
The five women were at one time inmates at the LaRue County Detention Center between 2008 to 2010. They claim 39-year-old Travis Strader, the former chief deputy jailer, and 66-year-old deputy jailer Harold Marcum, both of whom have already been indicted by a grand jury, forced them to perform sexual acts in exchange for contraband.
As WAVE 3 News first reported, police say the jailers brought in tobacco, alcohol and drugs in exchange for sexual favors from the women who were in jail for things like drug addictions or writing bad checks.
Louisville attorneys Vanessa Cantley and Nathan Williams say at least one of the victims claims she was forcibly raped. Others allege they had no other choice but to perform sexual acts out of fear of retaliation by the jailers. And still, other witnesses claim, sometimes the jailers took multiple women to their offices.
"On at least one occasion, there was more than one woman in Mr. Strader's office and the sexual acts were performed as a group," said Cantley.
"There is evidence that some of the women who didn't have an STD (sexually transmitted disease) to begin with, after their period of incarceration have been infected with an STD," Williams said.
The attorneys say their own private investigator found other victims who are not part of this lawsuit, which seeks a jury trial and punitive damages.
Mac Trumbo, who was the former LaRue County Jailer at the time of the alleged sexual assaults is also named.
A third deputy jailer, 31-year-old Josh Robinson, who was criminally charged for bringing in contraband, is not named in the suit.
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Vanessa Cantley
Nathan Williams
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