Former Montgomery County corrections officer pleads in sex case

Franco Villella

Franco Villella

A former Montgomery County Sheriff’s corrections officer faces up to 15 years in prison after pleading no contest to six counts of sexual misconduct at the jail.

Franco Villella, 24, is due back Aug. 20 for sentencing in Montgomery County Common Pleas Court.

Villella originally was charged in connection with allegations that he led a woman into a seldom-used jail bathroom stall and forced her to engage in sexual conduct with him.

“The defendant took the victim, who was an inmate being held in the jail, down a hallway to a restroom and forced her to submit to sexual conduct,” the prosecutors said in a press release when he was first charged in 2018.

Villella was indicted on four additional charges of sexual battery in April 2019 following another woman’s allegations.

“A second victim came forward and reported that the defendant has forced her to submit to sexual conduct as well. Further investigation determined that these newly reported incidents actually occurred before the previously indicted incident,” a release from the prosecutor’s office stated.

Prosecutors said the second accuser also was a female inmate at the Montgomery County Jail.

A Montgomery County Prosecutor spokeswoman said the six counts will merge into three counts and that Villella will have to register as a Tier III sexual offender for life.

Villella also was sued in Montgomery County Common Pleas court by one of his accusers. According to court documents, a final pre-trial hearing is set in the case for Nov. 4 and a trial date is set for Nov. 16.

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