‘Trust turned into terror’ as correctional officer sexually abused Texas inmates, feds say
.png "Two inmates at the Webb County Jail in Texas say they were sexually assaulted by a correctional officer.")
A former correctional officer is accused of sexually assaulting two inmates at a Texas jail.
Hector Humberto Rodriguez Jr. pleaded guilty to deprivation of rights and aggravated sexual assault, according to court records.
Rodriguez was a correctional officer with the Webb County Sheriff’s Department and was working at the Webb County Jail, according to a Dec. 30 news release from the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of Texas.
McClatchy News reached out to Rodriguez’s attorney and Webb County for comment on Jan. 2 but did not immediately hear back.
In January 2022, on two separate occasions, Rodriguez sexually assaulted two female inmates, according to prosecutors.
On Jan. 11 and Jan. 19, 2022, Rodriguez took two women out of their cells and into a secluded area and forcibly sexually assaulted them, prosecutors said.
“A separate room devoid of witnesses became the setting where trust turned into terror, as Rodriguez, wielding the power bestowed upon him as a jailer, used force and coercion to commit heinous acts,” U.S. Attorney Alamdar S. Hamdani said in the release.
Prosecutors said Rodriguez “used force, threats of force and coercion” to assault the women.
Both of the women later reported the sexual assaults to authorities, prosecutors said.
“Rodriguez is the worst kind of predator, one who abused his authority, praying upon some of the most vulnerable women in our community,” Hamdani said. “These were women that were in his care, women that he was supposed to look after and protect. Instead, he took advantage of their vulnerability and violated their civil rights for his own sick pleasures.”
Rodriguez faces life in prison.
