Jail guard admits to sex with inmates

PITTSFIELD — In Berkshire Superior Court yesterday, Raymond M. "Mickey" Dunham Jr.'s family and friends shared fond memories of a good boy who went on to become an even better father. But not even the support of a local Catholic priest or anecdotes about the big-hearted Dunham, who still shovels his grandmother's driveway each winter, could erase a critical mistake.

A mistake that ultimately cost Dunham, a former major with the Berkshire County Sheriff's Department, his freedom.

As Dunham's family filled the first few rows of the courtroom, Judge John A. Agostini sentenced Dunham to one year to a year and a day in state prison for engaging in sexual relations with two female inmates at the Berkshire County Jail & House of Correction. The consensual sexual acts occurred on four separate occasions between Sept. 24 and Oct. 8, 2006, prosecutors said.

Dunham, 43, of Dalton, was employed at the Cheshire Road jail at the time. He resigned from the sheriff's department in December 2006, the same month he was indicted on the charges.

Dunham's jury trial began Tuesday, but he quickly informed his defense attorney, Timothy J. Shugrue of Pittsfield, that he would

plead guilty to all charges. The plea deal spared his family further public humiliation, said Shugrue, and brought the trial to a rapid conclusion.

Dunham, a former Navy serviceman and a graduate of St. Joseph's Central High School in Pittsfield, has already been embarrassed and tried in the court of public opinion, said Shugrue.

His attorney yesterday read from numerous letters supporting his client, including a message from a local Catholic priest, the Rev. James K. Joyce, pastor of Sacred Heart Church in Pittsfield, who has known Dunham for more than 30 years.

"The Mickey I know is a good guy," Joyce wrote in his letter, "and I respect him."

Shugrue, in his plea for clemency, reminded Agostini that Dunham's felony conviction "is going to follow him around for years to come," making it very difficult for him to secure a good job.

Shugrue requested a five-year probation term for Dunham, noting his client had led an exemplary life prior to these charges, which only came about because of a momentary lapse of good judgment. And that lapse, said Shugrue, has effectively cost Dunham everything — his job, his pension, his credibility, even his spouse. Dunham and his wife — the mother of his two children — are getting divorced.

"He is being punished, and he will continue to be punished," Shugrue said.

Agostini acknowledged the difficulty of sentencing a so-called "member of the family" to prison. According to the judge, Dunham was indeed a member of the extended Berkshire County law-enforcement family, which includes police officers, probation officers, prosecutors, sheriff's officers and even judges.

"I just feel terrible that a member of this broader family has been brought before the court," Agostini said.

However, Agostini said that Dunham's role as a major in the sheriff's department meant that he was "someone of significance, someone who people looked up to." But there was "a breach of trust," said the judge, adding, "I do believe that incarceration is appropriate."

Berkshire Assistant District Attorney Robert W. Kinzer III had asked Agostini to sentence Dunham to two to three years in state prison.

Shugrue asked the judge to grant Dunham a one-week stay, giving the Dalton man an opportunity to celebrate his daughter's birthday and tend to other family matters before his prison sentence begins. The judge agreed to let Dunham surrender before the court next Wednesday at 9 a.m., at which time he will be taken to the state prison processing center in Walpole.

The conviction of a prison or jail guard caught having sex with an inmate is a felony punishable by up to five years in state prison — or up to 20 years in the case of Dunham, who was charged with four counts in connection with four separate incidents involving two inmates. Dunham, who had worked for the sheriff's department for almost 18 years, was suspended in October 2006.

Berkshire County Sheriff Carmen C. Massimiano Jr. did not return a phone call from The Eagle yesterday. In the past, however, Massimiano said the charges against Dunham came as "a great shock" to his department.

The allegations surfaced in mid-October 2006 through information that was passed on from inmates to jail staff. Massimiano's department did a preliminary investigation, he said, then turned the matter over to Massachusetts State Police detectives assigned to the office of Berkshire District Attorney David F. Capeless.

Dunham was one of two officers in charge of the jail's housing units, or pods, where the inmates are kept. He was only in charge of the female unit when the manager of that area was off duty, according to Massimiano.

"The fact that somebody is being held in custody or under sentence does not mean that they lose their dignity as a human being," Capeless said in a phone interview yesterday, while traveling back to the Berkshires from a Boston meeting.

"And victimization like this will not be tolerated, whether it takes place outside in our community or inside the walls of a penal institution," Capeless said. "I hope that — with this plea, this admission of guilt and the closure of this case — that public confidence can be restored."

To reach Conor Berry: cberry@berkshireeagle.com; (413) 496-6249.