AFTER MONTHS OF GOING THROUGH HELL, FALSELY ACCUSED OFFICERS CLEARED BY DNA

Paco noted that a single inmate’s false allegation of staff gang rape placed a Sheriff’s agency and jail in turmoil, disrupting the lives of several innocent staff for over a year and a half.
　
Of course, the ordeal these officers went through pales when compared to the ordeal of those who were convicted of rape only to be cleared by DNA after spending years in prison.
　
MURDERER FATHERED BABY IN JAIL
DNA shows mother was not raped by prison staff
　
By Denise A. Raymo
　
Press Republican
August 13, 2010
　
MALONE, NY -- Killer Rhonda Amber Dufoe was impregnated by her boyfriend, murderer Richard "Dickie" Oakes, while they were inmates at Franklin County Jail.

Dufoe, who is to be sentenced Sept. 20 for her role in the 2008 shooting death of Thomas J. Hathaway Sr., gave birth to a boy, Xavier Tallman Warren Oakes, on July 28 at Peconic Bay Medical Center in Riverhead, Suffolk County.

DNA tests revealed a 99.99-percent likelihood that Oakes is the baby's father, Maj. Richard Smith, commander of Troop B State Police, said Thursday.

It matched all 13 characteristics routinely used in DNA identification, making the odds that Oakes is not the father 1 in 90 million.
　
DENYING SEX
　
Smith, along with Franklin County Sheriff Jack Pelkey and County District Attorney Derek Champagne, made the announcement at a news conference Thursday afternoon.

They cannot say for certain how Dufoe got pregnant because both she and Oakes have repeatedly denied they had sexual relations in jail.

But, the DA said female inmates in other correctional facilities have used "a number of creative ways" to become pregnant, including a rubber glove with semen inside.

Dufoe, who is being held in St. Lawrence County Jail in Canton, has now been charged with second-degree obstruction of governmental administration and issuing a false statement for filing, both misdemeanors.
　
CLAIMED RAPE
　
After more than 18 months in County Jail, Dufoe told a female correction officer in April that she has been raped by as many as three correction officers during her time there and was pregnant.

Tests determined she was about six months along, but paternity could not be established until the baby was born.

She was re-interviewed at the Clinton County Jail a few weeks later and again denied she had sex with Oakes and said she did not impregnate herself with his sperm.

Dufoe was arraigned in Malone Town Court before Judge John Marsden and returned to the custody of St. Lawrence County Sheriff's deputies on $2,000 cash bail or $4,000 insurance bond.

She signed paperwork giving guardianship of the baby to Oakes's sister, Nancy Oakes.
　
OFFICERS CLEARED
　
Thursday's announcement ends months of speculation about the baby's paternity and controversy at the jail, which has been battered by harsh criticism of its staff and administration.

Two officers had been suspended with pay because of the accusations, but both are returning to work Friday, Sheriff Jack Pelkey said.

"I'm just glad this investigation can finally be put to rest," he said, adding that he always believed his employees when they said they were not the baby's father.

He called the two men to share the paternity results, "and they said, 'I told you so,' and I told them, "I knew.' They are relieved."
　
THOROUGH PROBE
　
Smith said the State Police had put in more than 1,000 man hours on the "extensive and expensive case.

"It took a lot of people a lot of hours to pull this together and exonerate the two officers," he said.

And it was that effort that Champagne praised.

He said similar claims by female inmates incarcerated in other facilities would likely be ignored and not taken seriously. But the 20 or so Troop B officers took the task very seriously and did a thorough and professional job.

"It's very easy not to look into something like this," the DA said, adding that Pelkey also deserved credit for his agency's cooperation with state investigators.