A federal corrections officer accused of holding hard-to-get feminine hygiene products over inmates’ heads to sexually abuse seven women took a plea deal Wednesday, prosecutors said.
Colin Akparanta, 43, pleaded guilty to abusing just one victim as Manhattan federal prosecutors said they had evidence he stashed feminine hygiene products in his lockers and also found a list of products he was planning to give to the women he was abusing.
“During 2017 in the [Metropolitan Correctional Center] while I was working as a correction officer, I sexually abused an inmate. I did so by touching her genitalia,” Akparanta admitted. “I deprived that inmate of her right to be free of that contact.”
Prosecutors alleged in a nine-count indictment back in May that Akparanta smuggled contraband — including personal hygiene items, makeup and food — into the jail as a means to coerce his victims into keeping quiet and cooperating with the abuse.
Throughout the majority of Akparanta’s alleged abuse between 2012 and 2018, feminine hygiene products were difficult to acquire because inmates were forced to purchase them from the commissary.
In August 2017, the Federal Bureau of Prisons changed that and made tampons, pads and panty liners free for inmates, records show.
Prosecutors said in court Wednesday that all seven of Akparanta’s victims were prepared to testify against him if the case went to trial — but they accepted two guilty pleas on charges of abusive sexual contact and deprivation of civil rights for assaulting an inmate, identified as “Victim 2,” sometime around September or October 2017, court records show.
Akparanta, a New Jersey resident, is accused of abusing Victim 2 through the slotted door of her cell while she was locked up in solitary confinement, court records show.
The corrections officer touched the inmate’s breasts and digitally penetrated her vagina as her body was pressed up against the cell’s door, causing substantial pain, records show.
Akparanta also fondled her while escorting her to the shower and requested she touch his penis over his pants, which she did, records state.
He faces a maximum of 12 years in jail and will be sentenced July 8.