Staff file photo Rondell Harris, 34, during a hearing in June in Mahoning County Common Pleas Court after he was indicted on rape and kidnapping involving a female deputy at the Mahoning County jail.

YOUNGSTOWN — The female deputy raped by inmate Rondell Harris in May 2022 while she was working in the Mahoning County jail has sued Mahoning County and three sheriff’s officials, alleging violation of her civil rights.

The lawsuit in Mahoning County Common Pleas Court states jail officials William Cappabianca, Kenneth Kountz and Joseph Hood did not take “reasonable and appropriate steps to secure an inmate whom they knew was dangerous.”

If they had, “jail supervisors could have prevented the victimization” of the deputy, the suit alleges. The deputy is not named.

“All deputies deserve a safe and secure place to work, and the sheriff’s department must be held accountable when its leaders fail to take basic steps to protect their employees,” the lawsuit states.

Gina DeGenova, Mahoning County prosecutor, said the matter “has been forwarded to insurance counsel. Therefore I cannot comment.” The prosecutor’s office provides legal representation to the sheriff’s office and other county departments.

Sheriff Jerry Greene also declined to comment on the lawsuit.

Mahoning County, in care of the Mahoning County Sheriff’s Office, is one of the defendants. Greene is not named as a defendant.

The 29-page suit is filed by attorneys Subodh Chandra of Cleveland and Martin Desmond, a former Mahoning County assistant prosecutor who unsuccessfully ran for county prosecutor in 2020.

Cappabianca is listed as the jail’s warden, Kountz is listed as former assistant warden, and Hood is listed as a captain with the sheriff’s office.

Harris, 34, formerly of East Cleveland, was sentenced to 26 to 31 1/2 years in prison May 1 in Mahoning County Common Pleas Court after he pleaded guilty to rape, kidnapping, tampering with evidence and disrupting public services. The rape conviction resulted in a sentence of 11 to 16 1/2 years, and the kidnapping added 11 more.

HANDWRITTEN NOTES

The suit, filed two days after Harris was sentenced, includes several handwritten notes from Harris that the lawsuit alleges provided evidence he posed a threat to female deputies.

The suit also contains a note to jail supervisors from a jail sergeant indicating Harris should not be placed in a cell with any other inmate and that Harris had behaved inappropriately toward female deputies “on a regular basis.”

The suit states Harris was convicted in Marion County for a sexual attack on a social worker in 2009 while he was incarcerated there as a juvenile. As a result of that conviction, he was required to register as a tier 1 sex offender, the suit states.

Soon after, Harris was brought to the Mahoning County jail from the maximum security Ohio State Penitentiary in Youngstown in April 2022. He “swiftly developed a reputation for inappropriate conduct,” and he was place in the disciplinary unit, the suit states.

Later, he was transferred to the jail’s medical unit, and he was placed on suicide watch. “But when the watch was lifted, jail supervisors failed to transfer him back to the disciplinary unit. Harris unjustifiably remained in the medical unit,” the suit alleges.

When the female deputy was assigned to guard the medical unit on an unspecified date, “Harris stood close to the door of his cell, naked” and behaved in a sexual way “in front of her.” She reported the behavior, as she was trained to do.

He did the same thing in front of “at least five other deputies in early April 2022,” and each time the deputy reported to a male deputy, and that deputy reported the incident in the jail’s computer system.

Harris’ behavior continued into mid April, when he wrote sexually suggestive letters to another female staff member, telling her he thought she was “beautiful” and that he was “deeply attracted” to her, the suit states. The letter was reported to a supervisor.

Despite the letter, Harris was moved from a more secure cell to one in the medical unit that was out of range of security cameras “and less secure than other cells in the unit,” the suit alleges.

Shortly thereafter, Harris wrote another letter to that female staff member. In it he expressed a desire to touch her. It also was reported to jail administrators.

In mid April, Harris wrote a letter to a female deputy asking her to smuggle drugs and a phone into the jail for him. And on May 3, he handed a note to another female deputy that his cell was out of range of security cameras and expressed a desire to kiss and touch the deputy. That letter also was reported to jail administrators.

“Fearing that Harris may attempt to pull her into his cell, the deputy bluffed to Harris that there were male deputies assisting her on her shift that evening. The deputy logged this into the computer system as well and noted her fear that Harris would attempt to touch her or harm her if he knew she was alone,” the suit states.

“Within days of Harris’ note expressing a desire to sexually touch a female deputy, on or around May 5, 2022, (the female deputy) was assigned to the medical unit where Harris remained.” Harris assaulted the unnamed female deputy “and nearly killed” her May 5, the suit states.

MEDICAL UNIT

“Under jail policies supervisors on duty are required to check the prior deputy’s log within a few hours of her shift. Yet no supervisors took appropriate actions to adequately secure Harris or move him to another cell within the security-camera range — despite being warned by at least two separate notes that Harris was aware that he was off camera and was likely to engage in illegal actions in that cell,” the suit alleges.

It alleges a lieutenant visited the medical unit May 5 and asked the female deputy why Harris was still on the unit, and asked why Harris had not been transferred back to the disciplinary unit. The lieutenant “informed (the female deputy) that he was going to speak to Kountz as to why Harris had not been transferred,” the suit alleges.

The female deputy “was assigned to guard the unit alone, as female deputies working in male units often were,” the suit states. “After Harris returned from his daily hygiene and shower routine, he refused to provide (the female deputy) with his food tray and hair clippers, forcing her to approach his cell to collect the items,” the filing states.

“As she grasped the food tray that inmate Harris was handing back to her, Harris grabbed (the female deputy), threw her radio in the corridor and pulled her into his cell,” the suit states.

She fought Harris for four minutes, “but she was unable to hold him off. As she screamed for help, he (choked) her, threw her to the ground and ripped her clothes,” the suit alleges. “Rondell Harris violently raped (the female deputy) and then locked her in his cell while he roamed the unit unattended.”

Deputies assigned to work a central control facility were responsible for monitoring surveillance equipment. “Had they done so, the attack (the female deputy) endured would have been discovered immediately and she would not have been violently raped and nearly (choked) to death,” the suit alleges. She was locked in the cell “for at least 10 minutes, until two sergeants finally arrived and found Harris standing at the entrance door to the housing unit,” the suit continues.

NOT COLLECTED

As the female deputy was taken the hospital, she “begged her supervisor to secure a warrant and ensure that physical evidence was taken from Harris’ person before he showered,” it states.

Jail officials failed to collect and preserve the physical evidence, the suit alleges.

Since the rape, the female deputy “has been experiencing severe physical and emotional trauma,” it states.

Shortly after the attack, Greene “expressed his disgust at the mishandling (of) this matter,” the suit states. “Greene demoted … Kountz and transferred … Hood to a different position outside of the jail.”

The suit seeks damages against the defendants Mahoning County, Cappabianca, Kountz and Hood for dereliction of duty; failure to train and supervise employees; and for reckless hiring, training, supervision, discipline, staffing and retention.

It seeks unspecified monetary, compensatory and punitive damages and attorney fees.

On May 4, Chandra and Desmond filed a motion asking that the female deputy be identified throughout the litigation by the pseudonym Mary Stone to protect her from being identified in connection to “a matter of the utmost sensitivity — painful details of a sexual assault by a jail inmate.”

Judge Anthony Donofrio, who is presiding over the case, has yet to rule on the motion.

erunyan@vindy.com