ARAPAHO, Okla. (April 18) - Authorities have charged a
western Oklahoma sheriff with coercing and bribing female inmates so he could use them in a sex-slave operation run out of his jail.Custer County Sheriff Mike Burgess resigned Wednesday just as state prosecutors filed 35 felony charges against him, including 14 counts of second-degree rape, seven counts of forcible oral sodomy and five counts of bribery by a public official.
Burgess, the top officer in the county of 26,000 since 1994, appeared in court Wednesday was released after posting $50,000 bail.
"We are stunned," Undersheriff Kenneth Tidwell said Thursday.
Among other things, Burgess is accused of having sex with a female drug court participant who was in his custody. The crimes are to have occurred between October 2005 and April 2007.
A federal lawsuit filed in October claims Burgess told one drug court participant he would have her sent to prison if she didn't comply with his sexual demands.
The lawsuit, filed by 12 former inmates, alleges the sheriff's employees had them engage in wet T-shirt contests and offered cigarettes to those who would flash their breasts.
One prisoner alleged she became a jail trusty with more freedom after agreeing to perform a sex act on Burgess, but lost that status when she later refused.
Burgess also faces two counts each of sexual battery, rape by instrumentation and subornation of perjury, and one count each of engaging in a pattern of criminal offenses, indecent exposure and kidnapping.
He could be sentenced to 467 years in prison if convicted on all counts, special prosecutor James Boring said, though a lesser sentence would be more likely.
Life imitates Toobworld.
On October 20th, 1976, ABC aired the infamous 'Charlie's Angels' episode "Angels In Chains", in which the Angels went undercover as petty criminals to go undercover at the Pine Parrish County Prison. (To get into the prison, Kelly and Sabrina were supposedly on probation when they picked up Jill as a hitch-hiker - thus giving Sheriff Clint an excuse to take them in as prisoners.)
While searching for a missing inmate (who turned out to be murdered), Jill, Kelly, and Sabrina were hosed down by the dreaded "evil lesbian guards" and were destined to be auctioned off by the female warden who pimped her prisoners out to local businessmen. But what really made the episode infamous was the legend of the exposed nipple on the part of Farrah Fawcett as Jill, which supposedly could be seen as they slogged their way through a bog to escape from the prison.
Among the guest stars were:
Neva Patterson as Warden Sorenson
Lauren Tewes as Christine Hunter
Kim Basinger as Linda Oliver
Mary Woronov as Maxine
On October 20th, 1976, ABC aired the infamous 'Charlie's Angels' episode "Angels In Chains", in which the Angels went undercover as petty criminals to go undercover at the Pine Parrish County Prison. (To get into the prison, Kelly and Sabrina were supposedly on probation when they picked up Jill as a hitch-hiker - thus giving Sheriff Clint an excuse to take them in as prisoners.)
While searching for a missing inmate (who turned out to be murdered), Jill, Kelly, and Sabrina were hosed down by the dreaded "evil lesbian guards" and were destined to be auctioned off by the female warden who pimped her prisoners out to local businessmen. But what really made the episode infamous was the legend of the exposed nipple on the part of Farrah Fawcett as Jill, which supposedly could be seen as they slogged their way through a bog to escape from the prison.
Among the guest stars were:
Neva Patterson as Warden Sorenson
Lauren Tewes as Christine Hunter
Kim Basinger as Linda Oliver
Mary Woronov as Maxine
(I can't think of anybody more perfect to play that role back then!)
andDavid Huddleston as Sheriff Clint
It's a shame the timing is all off - Sheriff Burgess would have been a great role for the late Graham Jarvis!
BCnU!
Toby OB
PS:
One interesting side note to the similarities between the two cases - here in the real world, Sheriff Burgess is being represented by attorney Steve Huddleston. In "Angels In Chains", the dastardly Sheriff Clint is played by David Huddleston.
Toby OB
PS:
One interesting side note to the similarities between the two cases - here in the real world, Sheriff Burgess is being represented by attorney Steve Huddleston. In "Angels In Chains", the dastardly Sheriff Clint is played by David Huddleston.
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