RIVERSIDE, Calif. – A former correctional officer at the Federal Prison in the City of Victorville was sentenced to 2 years in prison for the sexual abuse of female inmates.
Apolonio Gamez, 41, of Lake Elsinore, was sentenced on Monday to the 2-year sentence plus seven years of supervised release. He will also be required, as a result of the court order to pay a $5000 special assessment to register as a sex offender upon release. Gamez pleaded guilty as part of a plea agreement in October 2018, of two counts of sexual abuse of a ward and one count of attempted sexual abuse of a ward.
Gamez engaged in sexual activities with the inmates while he was on duty between September 2016 and July 2017. Twice in 2016, Gamez had sex with an inmate while on duty the Department of Justice officials said. Gamez also caught a different inmate stealing food and directed her to engage in sexual activity with him in order to not be punished by sending her to the “hole”, a special housing unit in the prison. According to court documents, the victim felt frozen and powerless with fear. In addition, Gamez admitted to exposing his penis to a third inmate in an attempt to have sex with her in the summer of 2017.
