Ex-deputy who had sex with inmates & ignored vandalism, contraband is headed to prison
A former Sedgwick County Jail deputy is headed to prison for having illegal sexual contact with two inmates and ignoring others who vandalized and trafficked contraband into a jail cell last year.
Sedgwick County District Judge Tyler Roush on Thursday ordered Dustin Burnett, 22, of Maize, to serve five years, eight months, Sedgwick County District Attorney’s Office spokesman Dan Dillon said in a news release. Burnett entered an Alford plea on Feb. 10 to three counts of unlawful sexual relations and two counts of official misconduct, all felonies. The plea allowed him to maintain innocence while acknowledging that prosecutors have enough evidence to potentially win a conviction.
Burnett, who worked for the jail from January to July of 2022, was fired after his arrest. Authorities say he had sexual contact with two women housed at the jail last summer and solicited a third for sex while he was working as a detention deputy. In Kansas, it’s illegal for for jail employees and others in positions of power over inmates to have sexual or romantic relationships with them, regardless of their age.
Burnett also stood by in July 2022 as inmates burned a fist-sized hole into a jail cell window and caught others sneaking banned items into the facility, authorities have said.
