Prison Guard sentenced after being convicted of having sex with Inmate

A former guard at a federal prison in Arizona was sentenced this week to home confinement and probation after being convicted of having sex with an inmate.

Darrell E. McCoy, 51, formerly of Scottsdale, was sentenced Monday before U.S. District Judge Douglas L. Rayes to six months of home confinement and five years of probation, according to a news release from the U.S. Attorney’s Office in Arizona.

McCoy was convicted by a jury on Nov. 2, 2018, of two counts of abusive sexual contact with a ward.

A 17-year employee at the Federal Bureau of Prisons, McCoy developed a relationship with an inmate whom he supervised as foreman of a work crew of female inmates in Phoenix. He had sexual contact with the inmate in different locations on prison grounds between Sept. 29 and Dec. 15, 2016, according to the news release.

When the inmate was released to a halfway house, McCoy continued to communicate with that person via text messages and intimate love notes.

McCoy no longer works at the prison, the release stated.