A Cobb County grand jury on Thursday indicted a sheriff’s deputy accused of having sex with four female inmates at the county jail and elsewhere.
Sgt. Alvin Blake Sutherland, 51, of Douglasville, was initially arrested Jan. 18 on an allegation that he had sex with one female inmate. Since that time, investigators learned of three additional female victims who are current or former inmates, according to Kim Isaza, spokeswoman for the Cobb County District Attorney’s Office.
According to the indictment, Sutherland took the inmates to a secluded area of the jail, where he fondled them or forced or intimidated them into performing oral sex on him.
All the encounters allegedly occurred between June 2009 and Jan. 11, 2013. He was indicted on a total of 21 counts including rape, sexual assault against persons in custody, making false statements and violation of oath by a public officer.
Sutherland is being held without bond in the Douglas County jail, because he cannot be held in the same facility where he once worked, Isaza said.
If convicted, Sutherland could face a maximum sentence of life in prison without parole.
Sutherland’s defense attorney, C. Christopher Flynn, said Thursday, declined to comment about the charges except to say that his client is “standing by his not guilty plea right now.”
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