Metropolitan Detention Center officer fired after being accused of raping inmate

A Bernalillo County jail corrections officer was arrested and fired after allegedly having sex with an inmate and possibly giving the person a sexually transmitted disease.

Chevonne Culbreath, 29, is charged with criminal sexual penetration and attempting to bring contraband into a jail.

Metropolitan Detention Center spokesperson Candace Hopkins said Culbreath was removed from her post, placed under arrest and booked. She is being held in the special handling unit, which is an area where high-profile inmates or inmates with special needs or on special watches are held, Hopkins said.

Culbreath, a probationary employee who started in October 2023, has since been fired.

Culbreath is being held at the Metropolitan Detention Center. Her attorney could not be reached for comment.

“Her actions were a major impediment to the running of a facility that requires strict adherence to rules of conduct for both the inmates and corrections staff,” prosecutors said in a motion to detain Culbreath until trial.

The incident is being investigated by the Bernalillo County Sheriff’s Office. Hopkins said MDC has launched its own investigation.

“MDC leadership is deeply disappointed by the alleged actions of this corrections officer, which have undermined the integrity and trust we strive to uphold within our institution,” MDC Warden Kai Smith said in a statement. “Behavior of this nature will not be tolerated, and we are committed to ensuring that corrupt officers are swiftly identified and removed from our ranks.”

According to the criminal complaint filed at Metropolitan Court, the inmate on Tuesday alleged being assaulted.

Deputies said surveillance video showed Culbreath and the inmate entered a broom closet on Aug. 25. During that time, the door shook, “as if something is rocking back and forth against it.”

The complaint states the inmate told the BCSO detective he and Culbreath had sexual relations for a few months.

Deputies said the inmate told them that he tested positive for gonorrhea on Sept. 10, which prompted him to report the incident. He told them Culbreath denied giving him the disease.

The complaint states that Culbreath told the detective she denied having physical contact before later telling them that in the spring, the inmate told her he was going to “do her like he did his baby mama.” She told the detective she brought in candy and other food for the inmate “just so he wouldn’t bother her.”

Deputies said Culbreath told them the inmate said he would report her for bringing the contraband if she did not kiss him, “so she leaned into the cell and kissed him.” She told the detective they would kiss multiple times, “sometimes in his cell and sometimes in the supply closet.”

Culbreath told deputies that in August she and the inmate had sex in a supply closet after the inmate again threatened to blackmail her, according to the complaint. Culbreath told detectives that on Monday, the inmate asked her to bring cannabis hidden inside a breakfast burrito, which she retrieved from the inmate’s friend at a Walmart.

Deputies said Culbreath “decided against” bringing the burrito into the jail and it was in her refrigerator at home.