MUNFORDVILLE, Ky. — It was March of 2019 and Inmate Services Corporation (ISC) had picked up a 29 year old pregnant prisoner from the Marion County Jail in Indianapolis for transport to the Hart County Jail in Munfordville on drug trafficking charges.
After her arrival, that woman who is listed as L.P. in court documents soon filed a complaint against the guards in charge of the transport.
One of them was Marquette Johnson.
In the complaint which FOCUS obtained, L.P. said that during the trip, Johnson asked “if he could use [her] baby bump as a pillow.”
Later, when she was the last prisoner being transported, she stated Johnson climbed over seats to sit next to her and then “started rubbing [her] back and [her] belly.”
Then, prior to dropping her off at the Hart County Jail, L.P. said the guards told her that “[they] could have had so much fun…that’s why they dropped everyone off and saved [her] for last…and that they never been with a [pregnant] white girl.”
That complaint was sent to ISC’s headquarters in West Memphis, Arkansas, where the FBI would later find it during a search warrant.
It was proof that the private, for profit company knew about the guards’ disturbing behavior; however, Johnson continued to transport women in custody.
An extensive investigation by our sister station in Minneapolis, KARE11, found that since the complaint was filed, at least 11 women report Johnson sexually assaulted them.
Danielle Sivels was one of them and she says Johnson raped her the first time at an Oklahoma rest stop as she was being transported from Dallas to St. Paul, Minnesota, also in 2019.
“I’m handcuffed, I’m in a bathroom,” Sivels said. “He was a predator, and I was the prey.”
Another female inmate, Dabrielle Dixon, claims Johnson attacked her while being transported from Chicago to Des Moines, Iowa.
“I didn’t fight back, cause like I said, I’m handcuffed, I’m in a bathroom, I’m far from home, so I just did it,” Dixon said.
According to a federal criminal complaint filed earlier this year in New Mexico, Johnson is suspected of sexually assaulting at least 15 women he transported, some at gunpoint.
Recent court records indicate that at a hearing scheduled for Dec. 4 in Albuquerque, Johnson is expected to enter a guilty plea.
Johnson isn’t the only one implicated.
Other ISC guards are also tied to at least 21 sex assault allegations where there’s been either a conviction, a lawsuit or federal charges.
“This is probably just scratching the surface,” Sivels said. “There’s probably many other victims out there.”
►Contact reporter John Charlton at jcharlton@whas11.com. Follow him on Twitter (@JCharltonNews) and Facebook.