Guard Charged in Sex Abuse of Inmate

by Karen Freifeld
Originally published by Newsday, January 30, 2002

A 300-pound Brooklyn prison guard was charged yesterday with sexually abusing a female inmate at a federal jail.

Randy Denjen, 38, a lieutenant at the Metropolitan Detention Center, allegedly forced a 23-year-old inmate to perform oral sex, raped her, and then made her clean his office, according to the criminal complaint filed yesterday in Brooklyn federal court.

The incidents took place Nov. 25, when the victim was housed in an isolation cell, the complaint stated, and was reported by the victim after Denjen left.

The victim told FBI agent Peter Kohn that she "attempted to dissuade the defendant but he persisted," the complaint said.

At the arraignment yesterday, Assistant U.S. Attorney Nicolas Bourtin asked Magistrate Judge Cheryl Pollak to remand Denjen due to the "serious nature of the crime" and "overwhelming evidence, including DNA." Semen samples taken from the woman's clothes and toilet paper found in a garbage can outside the cell match Denjen, according to the complaint.

Denjen was ordered held without bail. Defense attorney Joseph Gentile asked that Denjen not be held at the jail where he worked.

The 6-foot-tall Denjen, who appeared in court with his left arm in a sling—the result of a torn muscle from working out in a gym yesterday, according to his attorney—has been a prison guard for 12 years. If convicted of the top charge of sexual abuse of an inmate by use of force, he would face up to life behind bars.