BORDERLAND

Ex-Wood Co. deputy indicted on rape charge

7/4/2014

BOWLING GREEN — A former Wood County sheriff’s deputy charged with having improper sexual contact with a jail inmate has been indicted on more serious charges.

Dusty Garwood, 50, of Bradner, Ohio, was indicted this week by a Wood County grand jury for rape, sexual battery, and abduction for incidents that occurred between April and June, 2013, with a 29-year-old female inmate whom he had transported between the county jail and the courthouse.

Mr. Garwood was indicted in December for sexual battery and two counts of gross sexual imposition for the same conduct, but on June 23, Wood County Common Pleas Judge Robert Pollex dismissed the sexual battery charge, which pertained to allegations he had sex with the woman at her home while she was on electronic monitoring. The judge found that the victim was not “under custody of law” at the time, as the sexual battery charge requires the state to prove.