NC jail officer gets up to 14 years for sex offenses against transgender inmate
A former Mecklenburg County jailer could serve up to 14 years in prison after he pleaded guilty this week to sexual assault charges related to a 2021 jail attack on a transgender inmate.
In an agreement with the District Attorney’s Office, Kyle Harris of Charlotte pleaded guilty Monday to two counts of felony sex act by a custodian and was sentenced to consecutive sentences of 20 to 84 months. Upon his release, Harris, 30, must register as a sex offender for 30 years.
Harris was arrested in June 2021 and charged with multiple sexual offenses at the jail, The Charlotte Observer previously reported. Sheriff Garry McFadden fired Harris after arrest warrants were issued.
Harris’ attorney, Lucky Osho of Charlotte, declined comment Tuesday.
Sources told the Observer that the victim of the May 20, 2021, assault was a transgender inmate who identifies as a woman and who was being held at the jail under federal identity-theft charges. Harris was suspended the next day. The Observer typically does not identify the victims of sex crimes.
On May 25, 2021, the inmate was moved to the Gaston County jail. Two days later, she was placed on house arrest by the same federal judge who had ordered her kept in custody after her February 2021 arrest in the identity-theft case. No explanation for her release was ever given.
In a deal with federal prosecutors, the woman pleaded guilty to one count of wire fraud in December 2021. On Aug. 16, the 23-year-old was sentenced to time served. She also was placed on three years of supervised release.
Cecilia Oseguera, the inmate’s attorney at the time of the assault and now a Mecklenburg County District Court judge, declined comment on Tuesday. The victim’s current attorney, Assistant Federal Public Defender Nicole Lybrand, did not immediately respond to an email seeking comment.
Violence against transgender people
The jail assault capped off a rash of violence against Charlotte-area transgender women during the first half of 2021.
That April, two Black transgender women were fatally shot in Charlotte motels. Jaida Peterson, 29, was discovered in a room at Quality Inn near the airport, on April 4, Easter Sunday. Eleven days later, police found 28-year-old Remy Fennell at the Sleep Inn in University City.
Two suspects in the killings, Dontarius Long, 21, and Joel Brewer, 33, have been charged with murder and robbery conspiracy, among other charges.
Meanwhile, Thomas Hardin of York, S.C., another Black transgender woman, was among five murder victims linked to accused killer Tyler Terry, who faces murder charges in two states. Hardin was found at home on May 2, 2021.
The Human Rights Campaign reported a record of at least 50 violent deaths of transgender or gender non-conforming people in 2021. That follows a record 44 killings in 2020. The group says at least 30 such deaths have occurred in 2022.
According to the HRC, almost half of the country’s transgender residents will be sexually assaulted during their lifetimes.
This story was originally published September 27, 2022 at 3:06 PM.
