A Florida correctional officer has been arrested in Miami-Dade after he was accused of sexual battery on a male inmate.
David Colin Thomas, 54, was arrested Wednesday on a sexual battery by a law enforcement officer charge, according to an arrest report and jail records.
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According to the report, the 27-year-old inmate said Thomas forced him to perform sexual act on him and tried to force him to have sex with him while they were in the dormitory at the South Florida Reception Center at 14000 Northwest 41st Street.
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The report said Thomas went to the police's Special Victims Bureau where he provided a statement, but the rest of his admission was redacted from the report.
Thomas was arrested and booked into jail before being released on $10,000 bond, jail records showed. Attorney information wasn't available.
"We see these cases happen all the time, and it’s just unfortunately the tip of the iceberg because we know many of them get swept under the rug," said local activist Kat Duesterhaus.
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Duesterhaus helps survivors of sexual abuse and says too often these victims are afraid to come forward or don’t have a voice when they’re incarcerated.
"Unfortunately there is abuses of power that happen from law enforcement officers and correctional officers – they call these moral offenses from the Florida Department of Law Enforcement, and there’s no oversight," she said.
Duesterhaus believes added oversight needs to be put in place so these crimes are put to an end.
"We need systems in place, whether that’s other officers who are there to help create checks and balances, or a hotline," she said. "We just need something to support survivors and to give them an out. To notify somebody about violent situations that have been happening or are happening. No one should face this kind of trauma on their own."
Resources for victims of sexual assault are available through the National Sexual Violence Resources Center and the National Sexual Assault Telephone Hotline at 800-656-4673.
