LITTLETON, Colo.-
An Arapahoe County jailer has been suspended without pay and charged with criminal misconduct after authorities say she had inappropriate contact with a prison inmate accused of shooting witnesses to a murder.
Jailer Nicole Sue Beal, 23, faces charges of introducing contraband in the first degree and first-degree official misconduct, officials said Tuesday. She was suspended from the Arapahoe County Sheriff’s Office without pay and is free on $200,000 bond, according to the sheriff’s office.
Authorities say Beal was contacting Department of Corrections inmate Robert Keith Ray, currently serving a 108-year prison term as an accessory to the 2004 murder of Gregory Vann. Ray is also awaiting trial in the June 2005 shooting deaths of Javad Marshall-Fields and Vivian Wolfe. Prosecutors had planned to call Marshall-Fields as a witness in the investigation into Vann’s murder.
Arapahoe County Sheriff Grayson Robinson said Beal was writing letters and making telephone calls to Ray of a “flirtatious nature.” He said Beal’s conduct did not constitute a security breach.
Authorities say when sheriff’s officials contacted Beal during the investigation, she was carrying a folding knife with a three-inch blade while on duty in a maximum security section of the jail.
If convicted, Beal could be sentenced to up to six years in prison.
