BORDERLAND

1 sex charge dismissed for ex-Wood Co. deputy

6/24/2014

BOWLING GREEN — The most serious charge facing a former Wood County sheriff’s deputy was dismissed Monday in Wood County Common Pleas Court.

Judge Robert Pollex granted a motion by Dusty Garwood, 50, of Bradner, to dismiss one count of sexual battery, a third-degree felony that carries a possible prison sentence of five years. Two counts of gross sexual imposition, a fourth-degree felony, remain against Mr. Garwood, who allegedly had improper sexual contact with a female inmate at the jail.

The sexual battery charge alleged he had intercourse with the same woman at her home while she was on electronic monitoring, but defense attorney Scott Coon argued that the court ruled in her case that the time she was on electronic monitoring did not count toward time served. Therefore, he said, she was not “under custody of law” at the time of the alleged offense as the sexual battery charge requires.

Mr. Garwood, who has a pretrial hearing Aug. 19, resigned last July after 13 years with the sheriff’s office.