Guards Guilty in Teen Jail Rape Case

It was a snowy day on Feb. 13, 2003. School at Pendleton County High School was canceled that day. An 18-year-old teen borrowed his Dad's car to visit a friend. On his way home he was arrested for speeding and fleeing from the cops. Little did he know at the time, but before he would see his family again he would be assaulted, raped and forced to perform sexual acts on prison inmates.

Two prison guards, Jack Powell and Clinton Sydnor, pleaded guilty in the case. Two other guards, Wesley Lanham and Shawn Freeman, stood trial....and were found guilty. They both face the possibility of being sentenced to life in prison when they face the judge again on Dec. 8.

The jury of nine women and three men deliberated for about five hours Thursday, Aug. 14th before announcing their verdict. Wesley Lanham, 30, of Dry Ridge, and Shawn Freeman, 35, of Irvine, were found guilty of conspiring to violate the teen's civil rights by allowing other inmates to sexually assault him in the 2003 attack. They were also found guilty of obstruction of justice because the jury also found there was aggravated sexual abuse.

"I just want to go home," Freeman cried as about 12 family members and friends of the defendants wept in the courtroom following the verdict.

"We will appeal. You can quote me on that," Lanham's attorney, Dan Dickerson, said.

The convictions are a result of a five-year investigation by the U.S. Justice Department, which concluded that the jail was violating inmates' civil rights. The case was prosecuted by Forrest Christian and Kristy Parker of Washington, D.C. The presiding judge was U.S. District Judge Danny Reeves.

The teen's ordeal began when the guards at the jail where he was being booked on the traffic violation decided to teach him a lesson. He was of slim build weighing only about 120 lbs. They made fun of the blond highlights in his hair, they made fun of his satin boxers, they told him he would make a good "girlfriend" for some of the inmates. Instead of putting him a holding cell, as was customary in such situations, he was put in a cell with 14 convicts.

The victim, now 23, graphically described being stripped, hit with jail-issued flip-flops, raped in a shower and then paraded around half-naked. He said the attacks ended only when he bit an assailant. He told the jurors that he thought the risk of being killed was better than continuing to be sexually molested.

"I was thinking, 'Oh, God, here it goes,' " the teen said. "I'm going to die tonight."

Upon learning about the rape assistant jailer Greg Wells, told the youth that he could take care of the molesters for a pack of cigarettes. "That wouldn't be enough," the teen recalled saying to him. All the teen said he asked for was medical treatment from the jail's nurse. His request wasn't granted.

"I told the nurse everything that happened, and I wanted to be checked for any kind of diseases, you know, any cuts or bruises or anything, and she didn't, she didn't do anything."

The jail’s former nurse, Sandra Cook, testified that her attempt to get the teen medical treatment for the assault was stopped by former Assistant Jailer Greg Wells. She said she called the FBI to report the jail staff’s actions when Wells said he would take care of the teen but instead just released him. Greg Wells, was never charged with a crime. It wasn't until the teen was released that he was able to get to a hospital.

In September 2005, the victim settled a lawsuit he filed against Grant County for $1.4 million.

Trial Starts in Teen Jail Rape Case

This story began on Feb.14, 2003 (Valentine's Day). An unidentified 18-year-old boy was caught and arrested after trying to flee from a state trooper. The teen was clocked doing 35 mph over the speed limit on a narrow, two-lane road (U.S. 27 in Pendleton County, Ky). He was taken to the Grant County Detention Center to be booked on traffic violations.

While being processed at the jail a number of guards began to tease the teen about his appearance. He was about 5' 10" and weighed 125lbs. They said he would make a "good girlfriend" for inmates locked up in Cell 101, part of a 300-bed facility housing some very dangerous inmates, located in a far flung corner of the jail. Jail protocol called for the teen to be locked up in a holding cell just off the booking room.

However, the shift supervisor, Clinton Shawn Sydnor, 29 of Falmouth, decided that the teen needed to be scared and taught a lesson so he ordered two of the guards, Wesley Lanham, 30, of Dry Ridge and Shawn Freeman, 35, of Irvine, to tell the group of 14 inmates in Cell 101 to expect some fresh meat.

As the teen was being escorted to the cell in the 300-bed jail, inmates screamed, "He's such a cutie" and "Bring him to me." As Sydnor pushed the scared teen youth into the cell yet another inmate yelled "Happy Valentine's Day."

In civil litigation, the teen says he was carried overhead by a mob of inmates and led to the showers.

The teen was stripped naked, beaten with jail slippers, forced to perform sexual acts and raped. The brutal attack was carried out right through the night with multiple inmates participating in raping the youth.

"This is a case of a 10th-grader's worst nightmare," said Federal Civil Rights prosecutor Forrest Christian.

After the victim told his father he was raped, Sydnor began organizing a cover up, according to court papers. He lied to investigators when he said the victim was locked up with felons because the floor drain was clogged in the drunk tank. He also fabricated shift logs to make it appear guards under his watch were checking on the victim’s welfare but victim wasn’t let out of the cell until the first shift came on duty the next morning. He also threatened a female guard who was considering telling the truth.

All three former guards are facing federal charges of conspiracy, violating civil rights, falsifying records and aiding and abetting. Sydnor is additionally charged with one count of witness tampering. All three guards were fired shortly after the rape. In addition Deputy Jailer Jack Powell of Covington, Ky., was charged with conspiring to obstruct a federal investigation into a civil rights offense. Both Jack Powell and Clinton Sydnor have both pleaded guilty.

Powell pleaded guilty to conspiring with Clinton Shawn Sydnor to obstruct the investigation. He acknowledged signing a typewritten statement that contained both a false justification for the placement of the pre-trial detainee in a general population cell and false statements concerning the completion of cell checks by GCDC personnel. Powell agreed to testify against Wesley Lanham and Shawn Freeman.

Sydnor admitted in court that he conspired with the other officers and with the inmates to violate the teenager’s civil rights, that he knew the teen faced a threat from the other inmates, and that he deliberately ignored that danger. Sydnor also admitted that he had other officers falsify reports relating to the incident. He also agreed to testify against Wesley Lanham and Shawn Freeman. Sydnor faces a possible sentence of 15 years in prison when he is sentenced on Dec. 8, 2008.

A state grand jury sitting in Grant County declined to indict any guard on duty the night of the attack or the elected jailer, a retired state trooper formerly assigned to the post that investigated the assault.

The trials of Wesley Lanham and Shawn Freeman are now underway with their lawyers claiming that they are scapegoats. Lanham's attorney, Dan Dickerson, said his client "denies any criminal involvement in this incident and expects to be completely exonerated."

Freeman’s attorney, Randy Blankenship, said the men on trial are not the culpable ones, adding they didn’t lock the teen in the cell with the convicts. That was done by the sergeant on duty, Clinton Shawn Sydnor. Blankenship said the jail provided little training to Freeman when he was hired a few months before the attack. Freeman is now a firefighter and emergency medical technician living in Erlanger.

He is a man who saves lives, not harms them, Blankenship said.

Freeman wasn’t even at the jail when the attack happened, Blankenship said. He was driving home a female guard who had a seizure at the jail. The woman’s seizure was brought on by the stress of knowing what the convicts were doing to the teen, the prosecutor said. Yet when a trooper showed up to investigate, the woman didn’t immediately come forward with what she knew because the trooper was a friend of the jailers’, Christian said, and she figured there would be a coverup. If convicted, the defendants Lanham and Freeman face maximum sentences of life imprisonment and fines of $250,000.

The teen survived the ordeal and reached a $1.4 million settlement with the county in 2005. The traffic violations against the teen were ultimately dropped. A total of three inmates were also convicted in the sexual assault.

The victim, who is now 23, leads a very non-social life, said lawyer Don Nageleisen, who sued the jail on behalf of the teen. "It is a day-by-day thing for him," he said. "He stays to himself. He doesn't go out in public."