FRANKLIN — A former jail employee accused of having a relationship with an inmate is facing additional misconduct charges.
Prosecutors added felony charges of official misconduct and sexual misconduct for Zachariah B. Johnson, 28, of North Vernon, this month, after a second female inmate came forward with similar allegations.
Johnson was charged in December with three counts of sexual misconduct, a Level 5 felony, official misconduct, a Level 6 felony, and trafficking with an inmate, a misdemeanor.
The Johnson County Sheriff’s Office fired Johnson last month. He had been with the agency for two years.
Deputies with the Morgan County Sheriff’s Department, which had been asked to investigate the initial allegations by Johnson County Sheriff Duane Burgess, received a call from the Johnson County Sheriff’s Office on Dec. 6 requesting Morgan County do follow-up interviews concerning the previous investigation, according to a probable cause affidavit filed Jan. 4.
Johnson County deputies told Morgan County they had interviewed a female inmate at the county jail on Dec. 6, who said she had a sexual relationship with Johnson. The relationship began in early November after Johnson asked her what she would be willing to do to get out of an upcoming disciplinary hearing, according to court documents.
After a brief conversation, Johnson asked her to show him her breasts, and he later showed her a photo of his penis on his cell phone. For the next few weeks, the inmate said she and Johnson began flirting and having explicit conversations through the jail’s intercom system, court documents show.
On Thanksgiving Day, Johnson asked the inmate if she wanted to have sex with him, and she said yes. Later that day, Johnson went into the inmate’s cell and had sex with her. The inmate told investigators they had not spoken since, according to court documents.
Morgan County detectives interviewed Johnson at the Bartholomew County jail, where he was being held on the initial charges. During the interview on Dec. 8, Johnson told investigators the inmate was telling the truth. Johnson told investigators he had previously had inappropriate interactions with other female inmates at the Johnson County jail. Johnson County detectives interviewed the other inmates, and they denied it, court documents show.
The first inmate had reported through her lawyer she and Johnson had a sexual relationship, ultimately leading to his arrest in early December. She said she and Johnson had flirted, passed notes back and forth, and had talked in an interview room at the jail. He also showed her a photo of his penis on his cell phone, according to a probable cause affidavit filed Dec. 6 in Johnson County Superior Court 2.
During the first week of October, at about 2 a.m., Johnson took the inmate from her cell to the same interview room. He began kissing her and they had sex, according to court documents.
The next day, the inmate passed Johnson a note that said she was concerned she would get pregnant, as she was not on birth control and Johnson did not use any type of protection. She asked Johnson to bring her a Plan B pill so she wouldn’t get pregnant, and he did, court documents show.
On at least two other occasions between October and November, Johnson took her to the same interview room where the two had sex, according to court documents.
The inmate gave investigators typed notes Johnson had passed to her, court documents show.
During initial interviews, Johnson admitted to taking the inmate to the interview room, and that the encounters eventually became sexual and the two of them began a sexual relationship. He also confirmed that he did, in fact, get the Plan B pill and pass it to the inmate using a jail medication cup, according to court documents.
Burgess learned about the allegations on Dec. 2, and launched a criminal and internal investigation shortly before asking Morgan County detectives to handle the investigation to ensure transparency.
