Tennessee
A federal judge sentenced former Sheriff Charles Scott Cravens to 33 months in prison and two years of supervised release for corruption and civil rights offenses committed while he ran the Fentress County Jail in Jamestown, Tennessee, according to officials.
Cravens, 47, of Jamestown, plead guilty on April 20, to three counts of honest services bribery and one count of deprivation of rights under color of law, officials said.
According to admissions made in connection with his guilty plea, Cravens used his position as sheriff to solicit sex from female inmates incarcerated at the Fentress County Jail. on multiple occasions between July 2016 and April 2017 in exchange for benefits that other inmates did not receive.
Assistant U.S. Attorney Katy Risinger portrayed Cravens as the most powerful man in the county, saying he coerced the women into having sex with him and took advantage of his position of authority, according to the Tennessean.
“The women here could not consent, not in any meaningful way,” she said. “They are reliant on defendant for their safety, their food, their clothing. … Their well-being,” the Tennessean reported.
On multiple occasions between July 2016 and April 2017, Cravens did so in exchange for benefits that other inmates did not receive.
Among those benefits, Cravens personally transported inmates outside the jail to visit relatives. Cravens also provided money on three occasions to the relatives of two inmates for deposit into the inmates’ commissary accounts.
Cravens further allowed two inmates to exit the jail building to smoke cigarettes that he either provided personally or directed other jail staff to provide.
Cravens additionally provided his personal cellular telephone number to the inmates with whom he engaged in sexual conduct so they could call him using the Fentress County Jail telephone system to leave recorded messages with personal requests. Between Aug. 24, 2016, and March 1, three inmates placed over 700 calls total to Cravens’ phone.
In connection with his guilty plea, Cravens also admitted to using unreasonable force as a law enforcement officer in November 2016, kicking a handcuffed male inmate in the backside and also punching the handcuffed inmate twice in the back of the head, authorities said.