FROM THE TENNESSEAN: Tennessee sheriff's deputy indicted on 44 charges including rape, sexual battery amid ongoing lawsuits. A Chattanooga-area sheriff's deputy has been charged with more than 40 counts ranging from rape and sexual battery to oppression and extortion.
Daniel Wilkey, 26, was indicted on 44 charges stemming from allegations of inappropriate behavior and assault while he was working for the Hamilton County Sheriff's Office, the Associated Press reports.
Hamilton County Sheriff Jim Hammond told news outlets he was notified on Tuesday that a grand jury had indicted Wilkey, AP reports.
Wilkey has been named, along with other HCSO deputies, in four lawsuits that accuse him of misconduct during traffic stops. The alleged misconduct ranges from a forced baptism, groping underage girls and an illegal, forcible drug search, AP reports.
In July, dashboard camera footage appeared to show Wilkey and another deputy involved in a strip search of a man on the side of the road in Soddy-Daisy.
Wilkey faces an excessive force lawsuit related to the stop in which the defendant says the effects of the search required treatment for anal contusions and surgery on a previously-untreated hernia.
Attorney Robin Flores told reporters this summer that the man shown in the video is his client James Myron Mitchell. The suit alleges the anal cavity search was unlawful.
The video also shows a deputy repeatedly punching and kneeing the man. In the affidavit the arresting officer says he continued striking after Mitchell was on the ground "until compliance was gained."
In October, a suit against Wilkey and the other deputy was filed in Hamilton County.
At the same time, Flores filed another suit on behalf of a woman who said Wilkey forced her into a baptism in a Soddy-Daisy lake in February instead of taking her to jail.
Shandle Marie Riley said Wilkey followed her to a friend's house from a gas station around 10 or 11 p.m. on Feb. 6, where he initiated a traffic stop, the suit states.
He told her he believed she was in possession of meth, and started to perform a search during which he groped her and ordered her to remove and shake out her bra, according to the lawsuit.
In her car, he found a single marijuana cigarette, which she admitted to having, the suit said.
Then, Wilkey told Riley she was a "piece of shit" and asked her if she was "saved" and believed in Jesus Christ, the suit went on. God, Wilkey allegedly told her, had been speaking to him throughout the interaction.
Wilkey then offered to keep her out of jail if she let him baptize her in Soddy Lake, in nearby Soddy-Daisy, the lawsuit claims.
The lawsuit says Wilkey escorted her to the Lake and stripped down to his underwear, while she refused to take off her clothes.
Deputy Jacob Goforth arrived at the lake in time to witness the ritual as Wilkey dunked Riley beneath the water, the suit says.
The lawsuits both detail years of reported abuses at the hands of Hamilton County deputies, alleging a culture of misconduct and an atmosphere from the sheriff down that led employees "to believe that abusive behavior would not be properly monitored, investigated nor punished and was tantamount to a policy of the county."
Wilkey was arrested and taken to the Hamilton County jail. His attorney did not respond to a request for comment, AP reported.
Hamilton County District Attorney General Neal Pinkston's office declined to comment. The sheriff said in a statement that he will cooperate with Pinkston's office and would schedule a hearing to address Wilkey's employment status.
Reach reporter Mariah Timms at mtimms@tennessean.com or 615-259-8344 and on Twitter @MariahTimms.
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