OSCEOLA COUNTY, Fla. – A security guard at an Osceola County juvenile detention facility is accusing of having sex with one of the detainees, according to Sheriff Marcos Lopez
Rachelle Edwards, 32, worked as an overnight guard at the Kissimmee Youth Academy, a medium-security level program under the Florida Department of Juvenile Justice.
“If you’re going to be doing stupid things like this, doesn’t ever only scar this child for life, but it also scars law enforcement. It doesn’t matter in what capacity you are, you know, we need to start changing the way we conduct ourselves in society, especially here in Florida in Osceola County,” Lopez said during a news conference on Tuesday.
The juvenile, a 17-year-old boy, told his mother about the incident and she called law enforcement, the sheriff said.
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Lopez said initially the boy and the suspect denied anything happened, but the 17-year-old came forward recently to authorities.
“He said three weeks after the juvenile arrived at the center, he got a letter from the guard asking his age. They started writing letters back and forth. And at one point the juvenile was moved from one cell to another the cell. (The one) he was moved to did not have a camera and that’s where all the sexual misconduct, to our knowledge at this point, took place,” the sheriff said.
Lopez said it is being reviewed why the 17-year-old was moved to another cell.
Edwards faces charges of unlawful sexual activity with a minor and indecent, lewd or lascivious touching.
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