For the third time this year, an employee at Lee Arrendale State Prison in Alto has been arrested and charged with sexually assaulting an inmate.
The most recent arrest came on April 24 when authorities arrested 29-year-old Christopher Dionte Mayfield of Toccoa. He was fired from his job at the prison the same day, according to Georgia Department of Corrections public affairs officer Lori Benoit.
Mayfield was arrested on a warrant taken out by an investigator at the prison. The warrant states that Mayfield “knowingly and willfully engaged in sexual contact with an inmate in the custody of the Georgia Department of Corrections, who he had supervisory (disciplinary) authority over while working in the Recreational Department at Arrendale State Prison.”
The alleged encounter took place in the B-Unit kitchen of the women’s prison in Alto.
“Mayfield was in a non-security position and had been employed at Lee Arrendale since November 2017,” Benoit tells Now Habersham. He was charged with sexual assault against a person in custody and possession of prohibited items by a state inmate. Following his arrest, Mayfield was booked into the Habersham County jail.
County jail records show that 24-year-old Destiny Paige Wilhite, also of Toccoa, was arrested on March 30 for the same offense. She was charged with sexually assaulting a person in custody and violating her oath of office. Wilhite was fired and served two days in jail before being released on a $4,600 bond, jail records show.
Officer Wilhite worked in the Lee Arrendale Transitional Center. She had been employed with the Georgia Department of Corrections since May 2018, according to Benoit.
Former prison food service supervisor Christopher Wood, 46 of Hiawassee, was the first Lee Arrendale employee arrested this year on sex assault charges.
On January 24, Wood was charged with sexually assaulting an inmate under his supervision. That assault also allegedly occurred in the prison’s B-Unit kitchen. Wood was fired from his job, according to prison officials. He was jailed and released on a $2,300 bond.
In a statement to Now Habersham, Benoit says “The Georgia Department of Corrections has a zero-tolerance policy against sexual assault/sexual abuse of offenders in our custody,” says Benoit. “The department does not tolerate the actions of these individuals who have chosen to bring discredit to the values of our agency.”
This article has been updated with additional information
