Woman says ex-deputies forced her to have sex while in custody

Published 8:35 am Wednesday, March 11, 2020

A former inmate in a Mississippi county filed a lawsuit saying she was forced to have sex with two deputies and sexually harassed by a former sheriff while she was behind bars.

Elizabeth Reed filed the lawsuit against former Noxubee County Sheriff Terry Grassaree and former deputies Vance Phillips and Damon Clark, news outlets reported Tuesday.

The lawsuit, filed late last month, states that Reed was forced to have sex with Phillips and Clark while awaiting trial on a capital murder charge in the 2015 shooting death of Kristopher Haywood.

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In exchange, the lawsuit states Reed was given a cellphone, had a sofa in her cell and was treated as a trusty, with benefits not granted to other inmates.

The lawsuit also states Grassaree inappropriately touched Reed and demanded that she send him sexually explicit videos, photos and texts from her prohibited cellphone while behind bars.

Reed and three other suspects were released from jail in November 2019 after new evidence was found, WCBI-TV reported.

The former deputies and sheriff had not commented on the lawsuit, news outlets reported. It was unclear whether they had attorneys who could comment on their behalf.