SCI-Frackville employee accused of sexual assault
KAYLEE LINDENMUTH / SENTINEL PHOTO - SCI -Frackville is among the five prisons listed which may close this summer. Local legislators launched a petition to save the prison, in response.
FRACKVILLE – A Hegins Township man, an employee at SCI-Frackville, is facing charges, accused of sexual assault on an inmate.
William Robert Wagner, 50, of Deep Creek Road, was arraigned Monday on felony institutional sexual assault, misdemeanor indecent assault, criminal coercion, official oppression, obstruction of law enforcement, and indecent exposure.
Charges were filed Monday by Agent James J. Spehrley of the Pennsylvania Department of Corrections Bureau of Investigations and Intelligence.
Wagner was employed by the State Correctional Institution at Frackville, just outside the borough in Ryan Township.
According to the criminal complaint filed in Magisterial District Judge Edward Tarantelli’s office, Wagner is accused of sexually assaulting a male inmate at the prison in a utility closet.
Wagner had unsuccessfully tried to convince the inmate to perform oral sex on him in a utility closet the day before to no avail.
The next day, Wagner threatened the inmate with the issuance of a misconduct for “threatening” Wagner.
The inmate then visited the utility closet to find Wagner, who then unzipped his pants and forced the inmate to engage in oral sex.
When confronted by agents of the Bureau of Investigations and Intelligence, Wagner said he “knew something like this was going to happen” and said he never should’ve been in the utility closet.
He told agents that semen on a t-shirt belonging to the inmate wasn’t his and wouldn’t be found anywhere in the prison. A DNA test proved otherwise, agents allege.
Wagner was arraigned and released on $50,000 unsecured bail.
A preliminary hearing is set for Nov. 26.
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