Alpharetta woman plans to file lawsuit after alleged jail rape

ALPHARETTA, Ga. — An attorney for an Alpharetta woman raped by a guard at a South Georgia jail told Channel 2 Action News they plan to sue Roswell and the city of Pelham over what happened.
 
Dennis Logan, 51, of Camilla, Georgia, is facing charges of sexual assault and violation of his oath of office stemming from the April 1 incident. Officials said Logan's supervisor was also fired.
 
The woman, who we are not identifying because she's the alleged victim of a sex crime, told Channel 2's Mike Petchenik she was frightened and confused after the attack.
 
"I didn't think it was right.  He's the police," she said.  "He's supposed to make sure I'm OK, and he's the one who's doing the bad stuff.  It was backwards for me."
 
The woman told Petchenik she was sent to Pelham after she couldn't make a $5,000 cash bond at the Roswell city jail for failing to appear in court on a criminal trespassing charge.
 
Roswell, Johns Creek and Sandy Springs all send their long-term jail inmates to Pelham.  In 2014, Roswell city officials told Petchenik they paid the Pelham jail  $86,317.95 to house inmates.
 
The victim told Petchenik that Logan approached her in a holding cell and asked her if she wanted a smoke break.
 
"He said, 'Yeah, what are you gonna do for a cigarette?' and I was like 'What do you mean?'" she said.  "I didn't think he meant anything by it."
 
Then, she said, Logan came back into the cell and asked her if she wanted to get back to Roswell to see her family.
 
"I was like, 'yeah,' and he kind of like pushed me backward on the table, proceeded to unbutton my pants and did what he did," she said.  "Whenever you got something wrong and they're supposed to be there, but if he's the one doing the wrong, who do you tell?"
 
The woman's attorney, Samuel Rael, told Petchenik he's uncovered evidence of other abuses at the Pelham jail.
 
"According to the interviews I've done, this is a common thing," he said.   "The GBI is investigating, the FBI is investigating, the Department of Justice is investigating, the United States Marshals Service is investigating and I'll let them do their job."
 
Rael told Petchenik it angers him that Roswell police say they will continue to use the Pelham jail for long-term inmates.
 
"Someone was raped.  Violated.  Nothing is fine.  How can they do business as usual?  All to save a dollar?" he said.  "There's plenty of room in the Roswell jail, but they don't want to use it because they don't want to keep the lights on and pay for it.  That's not right."
 
Roswell Police Chief Rusty Grant sent Petchenik a statement about the situation:
 
"Once the victim made the allegation of sexual assault to our employees, steps were immediately taken to request the GBI to conduct an investigation into the allegations.  The GBI has, and continues to, conduct a thorough investigation into this matter.  We continue to regularly communicate with the Chief in Pelham about this investigation and detention operations.  The City of Roswell is conducting a review to determine if Pelham is still our best option for offsite detention of Roswell prisoners."
 
Petchenik left a message for Pelham's police chief, but as of Friday afternoon he had not heard back.

WSBTV