A private prisoner transport officer has been sentenced to prison after authorities said he raped a woman in his custody.
Authorities said the man, identified as 37-year-old Rogeric Hankins, worked for Inmate Services Corporation, a company that transports people who are arrested on out-of-state warrants.
On March 31, 2020, he and another prisoner transport officer picked up a woman from Thurston County Jail in Olympia, Washington, to take her to the Ramsey County Adult Detention Center in St. Paul, Minnesota.
“The transport drove through several states before reaching Minnesota, during which time the officers picked up and dropped off several male inmates in New Mexico and Oklahoma,” prosecutors said in court records.
On April 2, when the woman was the only detainee on the transport van, authorities said Hankins told her they “had some free time.” They later stopped at a gas station, where Hankins allowed her to smoke a cigarette, according to a sentencing memorandum.
He also began making sexual comments toward the woman while out of earshot from the other officer, authorities said.
Hours later, on April 3, they reached a rest stop in Joplin, Missouri, records show.
While the other officer was asleep in the van, officials said Hankins woke the woman and took her to use the bathroom.
“After the victim used the women’s bathroom, Hankins led her into the men’s bathroom, and told her to go into the stall furthest from the door,” the U.S. Department of Justice said in a July 11 news release. “Once inside the stall, Hankins began to try to pull the victim’s shirt up. The victim resisted and told Hankins to stop. In response, Hankins told the victim to be quiet and made her perform a sexual act on him. Hankins then bent the victim over a toilet seat and raped her.”
McClatchy News requested comment from Hankins’ defense attorney and Inmate Services Corporation on July 12 and was awaiting a response.
After stopping in Missouri, the van continued to Minnesota, where Hankins insisted on the woman using another rest stop bathroom, authorities said. He attempted to assault her again, authorities said, but “finally stopped” when the woman said she was vaginally bleeding.
“When the transport van arrived at the RCDC, in St. Paul, Minnesota, (the woman) began to cry,” authorities said. “The Defendant told (her) to wipe her face because crying made her look weak. The RCDC officers told the Defendant to switch (her) handcuffs from in front of her body to behind. As the Defendant switched the cuffs’ positioning, he whispered to (her) that it ‘hurts him more than it hurts her.’”
Hankins has been sentenced to nine years in federal prison followed by three years of supervised release, records show. He was charged with depriving civil rights and pleaded guilty in November.
“The defendant sexually abused and violently assaulted a woman in his custody, exploiting his authority and depriving this survivor of her constitutional right to bodily integrity,” Assistant Attorney General Kristen Clarke of the Justice Department’s Civil Rights Division said in the release. “The privatization of positions in law enforcement does not change the fact that these individuals can and must be held accountable when they violate our federal civil rights laws.”
If you have experienced sexual assault and need someone to talk to, call the National Sexual Assault Hotline for support at 1-800-656-4673 or visit the hotline’s online chatroom.