FAYETTEVILLE -- Former Fayetteville police officer Jamison Stiles pleaded guilty Friday afternoon to sexual assault in the second degree and unlawful disclosure of information from a law enforcement database in a plea bargain with prosecutors.
The plea deal closed two pending cases against Stiles, who was set for trial on a rape charge Monday in Washington County Circuit Court. A third case was dropped earlier.
Legal Lingo
Plea Bargain
An agreement between a defendant and a prosecutor where the defendant agrees to plead guilty to some or all of the charges against him in exchange for concessions. In plea bargains, prosecutors usually agree to reduce a defendant’s punishment, often by reducing the number or severity of the charges against the defendant.
Source: Cornell University Law School
Stiles, 32, was sentenced by Circuit Judge Mark Lindsay to five years of supervised probation and will have to register as a sex offender. Stiles also was ordered to pay a $250 DNA collection fee along with other standard court costs and fees.
"The plea bargain was consistent with the wishes of the victims in the case," said Brian Lamb, deputy prosecutor. "We always wanted to be sure he was identified and registered as a sex offender."
Lamb said having a felony sex offense on his record should ensure Stiles never works as a police officer again and, if he fails to comply with terms of probation, prison time is a possibility.
Mike Reynolds, deputy police chief, said Stiles' behavior was disgusting and unacceptable for a police officer and reflected badly on the professional men and women in the department.
"I think the whole case was devastating for the victims and an undeserved black eye for the Police Department," Reynolds said.
Lamb said he learned just after 11:30 a.m. Friday that Stiles wanted to accept the deal and plead as soon as possible. Lindsay heard the plea at 1 p.m.
The case that was set for trial Monday involved a former Police Department employee who said Stiles sexually assaulted her early July 8, 2013, while he was in uniform and on duty.
Detectives said Stiles used police records to find the woman's home and forced his hands under her underwear twice as she stood in her driveway. Stiles was charged with rape in the case.
A second officer, David Nguyen, was fired for failing to report to supervisors the former Police Department employee had told him Stiles sexually assaulted her.
In the second pending case, Stiles was facing charges of sexual assault and residential burglary related to an Oct. 31, 2012, incident that came to light during an earlier investigation. That trial was set for Aug. 25.
Stiles responded to a domestic disturbance and a woman involved said Stiles returned later in the evening and touched her inappropriately. The charges of second-degree sexual assault and residential burglary were dropped as part of Friday's plea bargain.
In the case dropped Aug. 7, Stiles was accused of entering an apartment and sexually assaulting a highly intoxicated woman he took home from a downtown nightclub.
Prosecutors dropped the case after much of their evidence was thrown out on pretrial motions. However, Lamb said the woman's allegations were critical to finding out about other instances of misconduct by Stiles.
"If the first woman had not come forward, we would not have known about the other two," Lamb said.
Stiles and another officer arrested an intoxicated woman after midnight Oct. 26 on North Block Avenue. Instead of taking her to the detention center, Stiles took the woman to her apartment at The Cliffs about 12:30 a.m. Police said the woman had no memory of returning to her apartment on Crossover Road.
Using GPS records of Stiles' patrol car, detectives determined Stiles returned to the apartment at 2 a.m. and again at 4 a.m. At the time, Stiles lived in the same complex and was employed as a courtesy officer with a master key. The woman said she awoke naked at 4:30 a.m. to see a uniformed officer standing over her. The two talked, then he pulled her covers down, grabbed her breast and left.
Stiles also turned off the video system in his patrol car on several occasions when dealing with women, according to police. There also were several complaints from woman who said Stiles made them feel uncomfortable during traffic stops.
Stiles was fired Dec. 16 from the Police Department after he failed to cooperate with detectives in their investigation, a requirement for an officer.
NW News on 08/16/2014