A 28-year-old South Kitsap man was fired from his job at the Kitsap County Jail for allegedly having sexual contact with female inmates, the Kitsap County Sheriff’s Office reported.

Administrators in the sheriff’s office first learned of the former corrections officer’s misconduct in August when both current and former inmates reported hearing rumors of a relationship between a jail guard and a former inmate.

The officer was investigated, as jail policy prohibits officers from having relationships with inmates. In September, the investigation reportedly revealed the officer had also engaged in contact with an inmate who was still incarcerated.

At that point, according to the sheriff’s office, the suspect was under investigation for criminal sexual misconduct. The officer was removed from his duties at the jail and placed on “administrative assignment.”

Investigators eventually developed probable cause to arrest the former officer for having “consensual sexual contact with a female inmate inside of a jail cell,” as well as with a former inmate outside of the jail.

The information was forwarded to the Kitsap County Prosecutor’s Office, which ultimately declined to press charges. According to the “decline to prosecute” notice filed Oct. 13, the prosecutor’s office determined there were enough facts to prove the case “beyond a reasonable doubt,” but the statute of limitations had run out.

According to the sheriff’s office, the statute of limitations for the offense of second-degree custodial sexual misconduct “had expired shortly before the incidents were brought to the attention of the sheriff’s administration.”

The dismissed officer started work with the sheriff’s corrections division in September 2006. The offenses were alleged to have occurred in July 2007.