Former Augusta jailer indicted on charges of sexual contact with inmate

Dearieus Fluellen

Date: August 26, 2022

A former Richmond County Sheriff deputy jailer accused of having sex with an inmate has been indicted.

Dearieus Fluellen, 23, was indicted Tuesday on charges of sexual contact by employee or agent in the first degree and violation oath of an officer. Fluellen, who is free on bond, is accused of having sex with a female inmate on March 26.

The victim in the case was incarcerated at the Charles B. Webster Detention Center on Dec. 21 in connection with a probation violation warrant. She had been on probation under the First Offender Act for felony driving on a suspended license. The probation violation warrant was based in part on a subsequent arrest for driving on a suspended license and other traffic offenses last year. She was resentenced to five years in prison Feb. 10.

Fluellen should be arraigned on his charges next month.

Sandy Hodson is a staff reporter covering courts for The Augusta Press. Reach her at sandy@theaugustapress.com. 

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The Author

Award-winning journalist Sandy Hodson The Augusta Press courts reporter. She is a native of Indiana, but she has been an Augusta resident since 1995 when she joined the staff of the Augusta Chronicle where she covered courts and public affairs. Hodson is a graduate of Ball State University, and she holds a certificate in investigative reporting from the Investigative Reporters and Editors organization. Before joining the Chronicle, Hodson spent six years at the Jackson, Tenn. Sun. Hodson received the prestigious Georgia Press Association Freedom of Information Award in 2015, and she has won press association awards for investigative reporting, non-deadline reporting, hard news reporting, public service and specialty reporting. In 2000, Hodson won the Georgia Bar Association’s Silver Gavel Award, and in 2001, she received Honorable Mention for the same award and is a fellow of the National Press Foundation and a graduate of the National Institute for Computer-Assisted Reporting boot camp.

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