A female security guard at an Osceola County juvenile detention facility was arrested on Tuesday by the Osceola County Sheriff’s Office after being accused of having sex with one of the detainees, who was a minor, according to Sheriff Marcos Lopez.
Rachelle Edwards, who is 33-years-old, is charged with unlawful sexual activity with a minor and indecent, lewd, or lascivious touching.
“Ms. Edwards, in her capacity as a night guard, initiated a sexual relationship with the minor, a detainee, again, he was a minor,” Osceola Sheriff Lopez said.
Edwards worked the night shift as a guard at the Kissimmee Youth Academy, a medium security-level program, located at 2330 New Beginnings Road in Kissimmee, under the Florida Department of Juvenile Justice. The juvenile male victim was being housed in this facility as part of sentencing for criminal offenses.
“If you’re going to be doing stupid things like this, doesn’t ever only scar this child for life, but it also scars law enforcement. It doesn’t matter in what capacity you are in,” Lopez went on to say during a press conference on Tuesday.
The 17-year-old juvenile victim told his mother about what was taking place at the Academy, causing her to call the facility, which kicked off the Sheriff’s Office investigation, Sheriff Lopez said.
According to the sheriff, initially the boy and the suspect denied anything had happened, but the 17-year-old eventually came forward to authorities.
“He said three weeks after the juvenile arrived at the center, he got a letter from the guard asking his age. They started writing letters back and forth. At one point the juvenile was moved from one cell to another the cell. The cell he was moved to did not have a camera and that’s where all the sexual misconduct, to our knowledge at this point, took place,” the sheriff said.
When interviewed by Osceola detective, Edwards gave a full confession for having sex with the juvenile, according to the sheriff.
Edwards has no criminal background and was contracted to work at the facility through a third party. The Osceola County Sheriff’s Office is working in conjunction with the Office of the Inspector General at this time for further investigation.
