Correctional officer gets 40 days in inmate-sex case

A federal correctional officer who admitted that she took an inmate from a prison camp to area motels for sex two years ago was sentenced yesterday to 40 days in jail.

Shearico White, 35, a senior federal correctional officer assigned to the Federal Correctional Camp Petersburg, pleaded guilty in August to aiding and abetting the escape of inmate Derick Favonta Askew.

White was indicted in May on one count of aiding and abetting escape and with sexual abuse of a ward. Records show Askew was convicted on crackcocaine charges in 2000. He received 160 months, but the time was reduced to 129 months last year.

A number of documents filed in the case, including White's plea agreement, are under seal. But in a statement of facts signed by White, she concedes that on several occasions in 2007, she got Askew out of the prison camp and took him to local motels for sex.

Neither she nor her lawyer, Harry Tun, could be reached for comment yesterday.

Though she had no prior record, she was facing 15 to 21 months in prison under the federal sentencing guidelines, according to papers filed by the U.S. attorney's office. She had requested a term of home detention.

Prosecutors, in their sentencing position filed with the court, argued that she be sentenced to a term within the guidelines.

"It goes without saying that the security and fair administration of this country's prison system is utterly dependent upon the integrity and incorruptibility of those who are charged with overseeing and executing the strict policies of the prisons.

"Yet, this defendant has responded to the public trust in her position by abusing it to satisfy her personal and selfish desires. In so doing, she succeeded in compromising the security of the community . . . as well as fostering a climate of lawlessness among the inmates," the filing said.

U.S. District Judge Richard L. Williams also imposed a two-year term of supervised release and recommended that the U.S. Bureau of Prisons make mental-health treatment available to her.

Contact Frank Green at (804) 649-6340 or .