A former male nurse at the Baxter County Detention Center accused of making inappropriate sexual contact with female inmates is scheduled to reappear in Baxter County Circuit Court June 24.
During an earlier court appearance, 39-year-old Samuel J. Sparks pled not guilty to three counts of sexual assault. He is free on $5,000 bond.
Sparks worked at the detention center from January 25, 2022, until he was terminated August 7 last year.
According to the sheriff’s office, Sparks is a Licensed Practical Nurse (LPN). He was responsible for providing nursing care to inmates, dispensing medications as prescribed, coordinating inmate sick call requests to see the Nurse Practitioner and following up with aftercare recommended by the Nurse Practitioner.
On August 4 last year, a female inmate made a complaint to jail staff that Sparks had engaged in inappropriate contact of a sexual nature with her in the detention center.
An investigation was launched into the inmate’s allegations. Three inmates or former inmates were interviewed on the same day the initial complaint was made.
According to the sheriff’s office, accusations of inappropriate conduct of a sexual nature were made against Sparks by more than one of the inmates questioned.
At one point, Sparks told investigators he had conducted what he described as “breast examinations” of female inmates at their request. He said the exams were done as part of his duties as a jail nurse.
Investigators found that Sparks had made no notes in the medical charts of the inmates that he said had requested a breast examination.
Several conversations between Sparks and inmates were claimed to have contained references to quid pro quo arrangements. In more than one instance, Sparks is reported to have said, “here’s what I can do for you … what can you do for me?”
One inmate told investigators she had requested a Tylenol and warm compress from Sparks to treat an eye problem. She said he asked her what she intended to do for him and she said she did not plan to do anything for him. Sparks is alleged to have said, “that’s not how it works in here. If you do stuff for me, I will do stuff for you.”
He told investigators much of the back-and-forth banter about the quid pro quo arrangements in the jail “was just me joking around.
Investigators contacted a Nurse Practitioner who works with the jail nursing staff and she said she would never ask the jail nurses to complete a breast examination. She said that was something the “jail nurses should not do.”
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