Add The New York Post on Google A corrupt corrections officer who repeatedly sexually assaulted an inmate at a Long Island jail landed just 18 months behind bars and was allowed to resign rather than be officially booted under a recent plea deal.
Jason Middleton, 37, scored the deal after pleading guilty to charges of committing a criminal sexual act and official misconduct for sexually abusing the female inmate for several months while on duty at the Riverhead Correctional Facility, according to Suffolk County District Attorney Ray Tierney.
Middleton could have faced a prison sentence of up to four years on the Criminal Sexual Act charge and up to a year on the official-misconduct rap.
“The vast majority of correction officers uphold their duties with the honesty and professionalism our justice system depends on — [but] this defendant took advantage of the trust placed with him to commit an outrageous abuse of power and a serious crime,” Tierney said in a statement.
Former Long Island Correction Officer Jason Middleton, 37, repeatedly sexually abused an inmate. Suffolk County District Attorney “My office will continue to prosecute such cases vigorously to safeguard the public’s trust.”
Middleton appears to have had fewer than five years of service under his belt when he was sentenced, which would make him ineligible for a public pension, so even being allowed to resign didn’t technically affect him in that case.
But it’s unclear whether allowing him to resign as opposed to being fired would eventually benefit him somehow.
Between June and August of 2023, Middleton, who was tasked with guarding inmates at the jail, used his power as an authoritative figure to threaten and coerce the unidentified inmate into letting the officer sexually abuse her, prosecutors said.
The Suffolk County Correctional Facility where the abuse occurred is in Riverhead. AP Within those two months, Middleton escorted the inmate on multiple occasions into a utility walkway between jail cells that he knew was a blind spot in the jail’s security camera coverage and would order the inmate to perform oral sex on him, according to prosecutors.
The crooked cop would even go as far as to threaten to plant contraband in the woman’s cell if she didn’t obey him, according to court papers.
Middleton, who had been on the job since 2019, was arrested in November 2023 and suspended without pay, but was able to resign from his post as part of the plea agreement he recently signed in June.
His resignation is of a larger pattern of Suffolk County allowing law enforcement found guilty of misconduct to leave the job on good standing rather than be fired, The Post previously reported.
Seven crooked cops were even allowed to stay on the force until their pensions kicked in, costing taxpayers $7 million and allowing officers who admitted to wrongdoing stay employed just long enough to reach their 20 years of service, which is when they would receive their pension eligibility.
As part of his plea deal, Middleton is also required to register as a sex offender and his risk-level will likely be assessed next summer, the DA said.
It is currently unclear if Middleton will serve his sentence in the Riverhead jail where he worked or in the county’s other correctional facility in Yaphank, the DA said.
