Ex-jailer searched web for guard-inmate porn before having sex with inmates: affidavit
A former jailer charged with having illegal sexual contact with two female inmates and soliciting a third for sex scoped them out online and searched the web for pornographic material depicting guards with inmates, according to an arrest affidavit released Wednesday by a Sedgwick County judge.
Dustin Troy Burnett, 22, also made a memo in the notes app on his cellphone calling at least one inmate in the Sedgwick County Jail a slang phrase that meant he found her attractive, asked for sexual favors and apparently had a photo of an inmate “folded up” in his wallet, the affidavit says.
The sexual contact occurred in an inmate cell in a pod Burnett was overseeing while he was on duty, according to the affidavit.
On July 17, security cameras in the jail pod recorded Burnett in the inmate cell for 9 minutes, 21 seconds, starting at 8:13 a.m.
He returned later, at 2:31 p.m., and was inside for 4 minutes, 27 seconds.
According to the document, Burnett walked into the cell and asked two women there “who’s gonna do it first,” which the inmates took to mean a sexual act.
After the encounters, Burnett told the inmates to shower, the affidavit says. He later apologized and showed them a photo of his loved ones.
At least one of the women victimized told a detective she “did not feel like she could say no” when Burnett asked for sex because he was “in uniform and in a position of power over them as the pod deputy,” the affidavit says.
Authorities discovered Burnett’s alleged illegal sexual contact with the inmates while investigating a separate report of contraband items coming into the jail on July 17 — a case in which Burnett is now charged with two felony counts of official misconduct for seeing but failing to stop it.
During that investigation, on July 20, a Sedgwick County Sheriff’s Office detective asked for and received permission from Burnett to search his cellphone, which the affidavit says included from June 23 to July 10:
- Several searches of inmates on the Sedgwick County Jail’s online inmate log
- A screenshot of at least one’s Facebook profile
- An internet search for pornography of jail guards with inmates
- A search for a Sedgwick County Jail female inmate on JailATM.com, an inmate messaging and money services website
- The notes app entry identifying an inmate by name
On July 21, the same detective started investigating a report of inappropriate comments Burnett allegedly made to another female inmate on July 9 where he told her she was “looking mighty cute” and suggested she perform a sexual act, which the affidavit says she refused.
In another instance, on July 17, he asked a female inmate if she thought he was attractive and made suggestive comments about sex, a request that was also turned down, the affidavit says.
When the detective started talking with the inmates Burnett had searched online using his cellphone, the detective was told Burnett had engaged in sexual activities with two woman, the affidavit says. Interviews with those women led to the version of events upon which prosecutors based Burnett’s charges.
The names of the alleged victims are redacted from the affidavit to protect their privacy. They are listed by initials only in the complaint prosecutors filed on July 28.
In Kansas, it’s against the law for law enforcement officers, corrections facility workers and others with authority over inmates to carry on any sort of sexual relationship with them, regardless of age or consent.
Burnett is charged with four counts of unlawful sexual relations and one count of solicitation to commit unlawful sexual relations in the inmate sex case. All are felony crimes.
He faces two counts of official misconduct in the contraband case, where authorities say he saw an inmate burning a jail cell window with ignited hemorrhoid cream and later caught inmates sneaking banned items in through the resulting “fist-size” hole but did nothing about it, other than telling them “don’t get into trouble.” Sedgwick County Sheriff Jeff Easter in a July news conference said jail officials think marijuana and two cellphones were brought in and that there had been plans to bring in a handgun.
The Sedgwick County Sheriff’s Office fired Burnett from his detention deputy job, which he started in January, after his July arrest. He remained in the Sedgwick County Jail on Wednesday, in lieu of bonds totaling $250,000.
His next court date, a preliminary hearing, is scheduled for Sept. 28.
This story was originally published August 24, 2022 at 4:20 PM.
