Former Jail Sergeant Faces Sex Assault Charge

A former supervisor at the McCracken County Jail is being investigated for the possible sexual assault of an inmate.

Sgt. David Knight, the Internal Affairs Officer at the jail, says he received a complaint July 3 from an inmate that Sgt. Fred Ford had made inappropriate remarks toward some of the female inmates. In the subsequent investigation, Knight said he learned that Ford had allegedly inappropriately touched a woman in the class D work program at the jail. 

State Police were immediately notified and are investigating, and Ford was indicted Friday for 2nd degree sexual abuse. 

Knight said in a Friday press release that Ford was terminated from his employment at the jail on July 5. McCracken Fiscal Court approved the dismissal at their July 9 meeting, but no details were given at that time. 

This is the second recent sexual assault claim against a McCracken County Jail employee. Former Deputy Jailer Chad Campbell faces two counts of 1st degree sexual abuse and one count of harassment with physical contact from an investigation in May 2017, after allegations by a female deputy jailer that she had been inappropriately touched and harassed on the job.