OCALA, Fla. (AP) -
Authorities say a former Marion County Sheriff's deputy faces legal trouble after investigators found out he sent love letters to a female inmate.
Francisco Javier Perez, 33, was charged Wednesday with six counts of introducing contraband into the county jail. He resigned from his job when he was arrested shortly after the correspondence was discovered on Valentine's Day.
The Ocala Star-Banner reports a jail trusty told a sergeant at the Marion County Courthouse about the relationship between Perez and inmate Jessica Soverns, 24.
Investigators found letters in Soverns' cell that had been exchanged between the two, the Sheriff's Office said. The letters had been passed over several weeks.
Perez had been a Sheriff's employee for five years and became a bailiff in 2009. According to an arrest report, Perez acknowledged sending the letters but denied sexual contact with Soverns.
"From day one of training, deputies are instructed not to commit such non-professional actions with inmates," Marion County Sheriff Chris Blair said in a statement. "Our people are held to a higher standard, and the evidence shows Perez failed those standards in a criminal way," Blair said.
