Jailer arrested for sex with inmate

Photo courtesy Ellis County Sheriff's Office.

Ralph Bernard Squire, 31, was booked into the Ellis County jail on December 22, 2016 on one charge of sexual contact or intercourse with a supervised person.

ELLIS COUNTY — An investigation by the Ellis County Sheriff's Office has led to the arrest of one correctional officer on a state felony charge of sexual contact or intercourse with a supervised person.

Ralph Bernard Squire, 31, was booked into the Wayne McCollum Justice Center in Ellis County at 12:26 p.m. on Thursday, December 22. His bond was set at $10,000 and has since been released from custody.

According to a statement by the Sheriff's Office, Squire resigned his position as a detention officer prior to his arrest.

"We pride ourselves on our employees but, if one of them makes a poor decision such as this, we will investigate it and we will take appropriate action as we did in this case, which was to arrest Squire after we concluded our investigation," Ellis County Sheriff Johnny Brown said.

According to Squire's Facebook profile, he previously left the Sheriff's Office in May 2015 to become a state parole officer with the State of Texas Parole Division but returned to the Sheriff's Office in September 2015. He studied criminal justice at Midwestern State University and pre-veterinarian at Tuskegee University.

"The Ellis County Sheriff's Office's comprehensive employment process includes a stringent background check. If someone is hired, he or she is expected to continue meeting the agency's high standards or face consequences," the Sheriff's Office stated in a press release.