An alleged inmate sexual assault that occurred Dec. 2 between two incarcerated people at the Maguire Correctional Facility will not be prosecuted, San Mateo County District Attorney Steve Wagstaffe said.
The alleged assault occurred on an elevator and in a hallway during an inmate transfer, where five inmates, including the female victim and male defendant, were being moved by a deputy sheriff. On the surveillance video, the deputy sheriff — who was standing the other way — did not notice an altercation of a sexual nature occurring and the victim did not alert him or anyone else to the situation or have a visible reaction, Wagstaffe said.
From footage, it seemed as though the other inmates might have seen that an incident of a sexual nature was occurring “based on the way they were looking and acting” but also said nothing, Wagstaffe said.
The victim said that the act of penetrative sexual assault was not consensual when she reported it after the fact and the defendant said it was consensual, Wagstaffe said.
But because of the surveillance footage, the DA’s Office does not have enough evidence that the incident was nonconsensual to prosecute, Wagstaffe said.
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“This is not critical of her,” he said. “There’s no way we could prove this was an act against [her] will.”
Both parties did not know each other that the DA’s Office is aware of, Wagstaffe said.
He acknowledged that the deputy sheriff seemed to have committed a dereliction of duty by not being aware of the incident but said it was not within the prosecutorial jurisdiction of the DA’s Office.
A representative from the Sheriff’s Office did not immediately respond to request for comment regarding policies of transporting mixed-gender inmate groups or the actions taken by this specific deputy sheriff.
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Keep the discussion civilized. Absolutely NO personal attacks or insults directed toward writers, nor others who make comments.
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