Ex-Guard Indicted In Inmate Assault
By Colleen Kavanagh, Eagle Staff Writer
Originally published in the Bryan-College Station Eagle, June 5, 2002
A former state prison guard has been indicted in Grimes County on charges of sexually assaulting an inmate after a prosecutor said DNA evidence linked him to the crime.
Prison prosecutor Kelly Weeks said Magnolia resident Michael T. Chaney, 50, was indicted Thursday by a Grimes County grand jury on one count of aggravated sexual assault and improper sexual activity.
Chaney, who oversaw laundry operations at the Texas Department of Criminal Justice's Luther Unit in Navasota, resigned in January from his post of seven years, a prison spokesman said.
He is expected to be arraigned on the charges next month. An indictment is not an indication of guilt, only that a grand jury believes there is sufficient evidence to warrant a trial.
Weeks said a 22-year-old male inmate reported being forced to perform a sex act on Chaney Oct. 31. She said he saved DNA evidence from the incident, and tests linked Chaney to the crime.
"That's what makes it a good case," she said, adding that it is uncommon for prison prosecutors to have such evidence in sexual assault cases.
The inmate reported separate incidents of being forced by Chaney to perform a sex act Oct. 1 and being sexually assaulted two weeks later, Weeks said.
The Office of the Inspector General began its investigation into the incident Nov. 7, Weeks said. Chaney resigned from his job Jan. 31 in lieu of being terminated, according to prison spokesman Michelle Lyons.
