A female employee at an Iowa prison has been arrested for allegedly having an affair and sex with an inmate multiple times over a seven-month period. Kayla Bergom, 27, a former employee at Tama County Jail, is facing three counts of sexual misconduct for engaging in sexual activity with an unidentified inmate, 29.
Bergom was accused in May after working at the jail for three years, according to Tama County Sheriff Dennis Kucera, who spoke to The Gazette. Her trial is set for August 12. The former jail employee, who has pleaded not guilty, might spend up to six years behind bars.
Sex Starved Employee
According to court records, Bergom had multiple sexual encounters with the unnamed inmate between September 2020 and April 2021. However, it went unnoticed till she was charged in May 2021. The Iowa Division of Criminal Investigation finished the investigation in March.
The investigation revealed that Bergom had sex with the inmate in a utility closet on at least one occasion and in the recreation yard at least twice, The Gazette reported.
Bergom's affair went unnoticed for seven months till an investigation was launched by the Iowa Division of Criminal Investigation after a county employee had filed a complaint.
It's not known if the inmate is still in the same prison, but according to The Gazette, Bergom had multiple sexual encounters with him between September 2020 and April 2021 while he was a prisoner.
"Federal law makes it illegal for prison guards to have sex with incarcerated people. This is because incarcerated people cannot legally give consent," according to non-profit think tank Interrogating Justice.
"If a prison guard has sex with an incarcerated person, the guard can face up to 15 years in prison," it added.
Ruining Her Career
Bergom's career is now ruined. Moreover, if proven guilty, she might end up spending six years behind the bars. According to Templeton1.org, the Tama County Jail is a small facility with a maximum capacity of 30 offenders serving brief sentences of up to a year.
The prison has medical, laundry, and cooking facilities inside of it, and it is said that interactions between staff and inmates are direct. Bergom, probably, took advantage of this situation.
However, it is not known if Bergom met the inmate in the prison for the first time or the two knew each other earlier.
This comes as Casey White, an Alabama prisoner, was charged in early July with the murder of Vicky White, a prison officer, who had assisted him in escaping from custody. The two had been on the run for 11 days before Casey was arrested, while Vicky died during the chase.
She shot herself in the head, according to the authorities at the time. After the chase on May 9, Casey was taken into custody right away.
On April 29, Casey, 38, and the prison guard set up a well-thought-out escape from a jail in Florence, Alabama, for what she falsely said was a mental health evaluation. After that, the pair switched cars and pretended to be someone else as they traveled through three states.
