JAMES CITY Co., Va. – The now-retired jail officer who was accused of making sexual advances toward and inappropriately touching inmates at the Virginia Peninsula Regional Jail received his sentence Monday.
Henry Rhim
63-year-old Henry Rhim of Newport News will serve eight months behind bars on two counts of carnal knowledge of prisoner by officer and two counts of sexual battery: inmate by employee.
Rhim was sentenced to five years with four years, nine months suspended and five years of supervised probation for each count of the carnal knowledge charge. He was sentenced to 12 months with 11 months suspended and five years of supervised probation for each count of the sexual battery charge.
Rhim was taken into custody on October 12, 2017.
Police say the accusations against Rhim stem from incidents that allegedly occurred between April and May 2017.
According to court documents, the two female inmates were working in the laundry room when they say Rhim would make inappropriate comments, touch them inappropriately and, on one occasion, force them to remove their clothes.
The documents say the two inmates interviewed with investigators in August 2017.
At the time of the accusations, VPRJ Superintendent John Kuplinski provided News 3 the following statement:
The allegations were made while the accused was on vacation prior to his effective retirement date of August 1, 2017. Once the jail received the allegations, the jail took immediate and appropriate actions by contacting the James City County Police Department.
