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A former Washington County Jail officer accused of having sex with female inmates at the Purgatory Correctional Facility in Hurricane has resolved the case with a plea agreement.
Steven Garrett Thayer, 29, pleaded no contest Wednesday to three class A misdemeanor counts of custodial sexual misconduct. In exchange, prosecutors dismissed four other counts of misdemeanor counts of custodial sexual misconduct.
In December, prosecutors had dismissed one count of third-degree felony custodial sexual relations.
Thayer is to be sentenced April 1 by 5th District Judge Michael Westfall.
Each of the misdemeanors is punishable by up to a year in jail and a $2,500 fine. But prosecutors have agreed to recommend that Thayer serve no more than 60 days, and that he can serve the time on weekends, according to plea agreement documents.
Thayer also must submit to a psycho-sexual evaluation and complete any treatment recommended.
In September 2013, Thayer was accused of having sexual relations with three female inmates, according to a probable cause statement filed with the court.
But in the plea documents, Thayer states that had the case gone to trial, the state's evidence would have shown he had sexual contact with two inmates on three separate occasions between February and April 2013.