Northern Kentucky Man Indicted for Transporting Female Arrestee for Sexual Purposes
Defendant Worked for an Interstate Prisoner Extradition Service

PADUCAH, KY—A federal grand jury in Louisville returned a five-count indictment against Albert Preston Long, age 50, of Florence, Kentucky, charging him with traveling in interstate commerce for the purpose of engaging in any illicit sexual conduct with a female arrestee, deprivation of rights under color of law, felon in possession of a firearm, and use of that firearm in furtherance of a crime. The fifth charge alleges forfeiture.

A criminal complaint was filed in federal court in the Western District of Kentucky on October 28, 2009. The affidavit of a special agent with the Federal Bureau of Investigation filed with that complaint states that Long worked as a prisoner transportation officer for a company known as Court Services, Inc., (CSI) based in Riverside, California. CSI contracts with state and local authorities to transport prisoners from one location to another throughout the United States.

CSI has authority granted to them by the contracting jails and prisons to transport officers on behalf of the contracting agency. CSI in turn grants its authority to officers under employment with CSI. In this particular case, the affidavit alleges that Long was acting under authority through CSI granted to him by Lincoln County Jail in New Mexico. Long was carrying a handgun and badge with representation as an official of the government employed through CSI.

On January 23, 2009, Long, while working for CSI, picked up a 22-year-old female at a county jail in Murfreesboro, Tennessee, for transport to a jail in New Mexico. On January 23, 2009, Long placed the female in the CSI transport vehicle and transported her and three male prisoners in interstate commerce from Murfreesboro, Tennessee to Hopkinsville, Kentucky. Upon arrival in Hopkinsville on January 23, 2009, Long delivered the three male prisoners to the Christian County Kentucky Jail. Long instructed the female to remain in the transport vehicle and told the male prisoners that the jail could not house her.

Long checked into a motel in Hopkinsville, Kentucky, on January 23, 2009. According to the affidavit, Long drank alcohol at the motel room and provided alcohol and Vicodin, a narcotic, to the female. It was reported that Long was wearing a gun on his hip and forced the female to engage in sex while restrained.

On Saturday, January 24, 2009, Long drove the female and the three male inmates to Paducah, Kentucky. Again on January 26, 2009, Long deposited the three male inmates at the McCracken County Jail in Paducah, Kentucky. According to the affidavit, Long did not check the female into the jail. Instead, he again took the female with him and went to a motel in Paducah, Kentucky, where Long forced the female to engage in sex while restrained.

Long was arrested on January 28, 2009,  in the Western District of Arkansas on the charge of unlawful possession of a firearm by a convicted felon and was recently sentenced for felon in possession of a firearm in Fort Smith, Arkansas. Long admitted that in 1982 he pled no contest in Hamilton County, Ohio to complicity to robbery charges. Long also pled guilty in 2000 in Hamilton County, Ohio to having a weapon with/under a disability.

In the event of conviction on all counts, Long could face a penalty of up to life, aggregate fines of up to $1,000,000, and supervised release for a period of not less than five years to life.

The case is being prosecuted by Assistant United States Attorneys Joshua Judd and Jo E. Lawless, and it was investigated by the Federal Bureau of Investigation.

Long is scheduled to appear for arraignment before the United States Magistrate Judge on December 22, 2009, at 9:30 a.m., in Paducah, Kentucky.