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A guard at the State Correctional Institute near Muncy in Lycoming County is accused of asking a female inmate to disrobe for him.
(Pa. Dept. of Corrections)
MUNCY -- A guard at the State Correctional Institution at Muncy has been accused of asking a female inmate to disrobe in her cell and dance for him.
State police have charged Anthony W. Porter Jr., 47, of Williamsport, with official oppression. He has been sent a summons to appear before District Judge Jon E. Kemp on Nov. 18.
He is the third corrections officer charged in the past two months with having inappropriate contact with an inmate at the all-female prison.
The arrest affidavit alleges a 35-year-old inmate from Franklin County on Sept. 6 disrobed and danced for Porter; she told authorities she was afraid of what would happen if she refused his request.
Porter told state police he did not ask her to disrobe but admitted asking her to show him her backside and wiggle it, the document states.
The inmate's cellmate told investigators she witnessed the Sept. 6 incident from her bunk while pretending to be asleep. Surveillance video shows Porter standing outside their cell that afternoon, the affidavit states.
The Franklin County inmate told investigators Porter allegedly had been making sexual comments, telling her she looked good and he wanted to see all of her after observing her on the toilet two weeks earlier.
He also disclosed to police he observed the inmate's naked leg and buttocks while she was seated on the toilet several weeks earlier and told her to cover up.
The investigation was initiated after a corrections officer who randomly was monitoring outgoing telephone calls heard an inmate talk about her cellmate having inappropriate contact with a guard, the affidavit states.
Porter, who is suspended without pay, has been a corrections officer since 2004, having worked at Rockview before transferring to Muncy on Oct. 27, 2013.
This was the third Muncy staffer to be charged in two months with having inappropriate contact with an inmate. A doctor employed by a firm that has a contract with the Department of Corrections also has been charged.
Those four and another guard accused of having sex with a Muncy inmate in 2014 are awaiting trial in Lycoming County court.
"We have not experienced similar issues at SCI Cambridge Springs," the other female prison, Corrections Department spokeswoman Susan McNaughton said Wednesday.