From staff reports

MARIETTA — A corrections officer with the Washington County Jail was arrested Saturday for inappropriate activities, Washington County Sheriff Larry Mincks said.

Michelle Lynn Kiefer-Erb, 42, a corrections officer/nurse at the jail, was arrested Saturday on four counts of sexual battery, each a third-degree felony, and was processed into the Washington County Jail.

Mincks said on Aug. 6, jail employees noticed that a male inmate was repeatedly being escorted to the medical office by a female corrections officer without a male officer present, a violation of Washington County Jail policies. A review of camera footage showed that on Aug. 1 that Kiefer-Erb took a male inmate into the medical office for approximately 14 minutes.

On Aug. 2, Kiefer-Erb escorted the male inmate into the medical office for approximately 30 minutes and later in the day, escorted him again into the medical office for approximately 21 minutes. On Aug. 10, Kiefer-Erb escorted the same male inmate into the medical office again and was observed by another officer who returned the inmate to his assigned housing unit, Mincks said.

It was discovered that Kiefer-Erb had not documented any kind of care in the inmate’s medical file, nor did she document anything on the daily medical log. Kiefer-Erb, when questioned by supervisors, advised she was stretching the inmate’s shoulder, and she did not know why it took so long. When asked why she did not document the treatments, Kiefer-Erb advised she got busy.

On Friday, Washington County Sheriff’s Office Detectives began their investigation into these incidents. Detectives learned the inmate had been using another inmate’s phone account to call Kiefer-Erb on a pre-paid cell phone. During the investigation it was revealed that the inmate and Kiefer-Erb regularly expressed their love towards each other, engaged in phone sex, and discussed post prison plans, according to Mincks.

On Saturday, detectives interviewed Kiefer-Erb who allegedly confessed to having sexual conduct with the inmate on four occasions while he was being held at the Washington County Jail, Mincks reported.