YOUNGSTOWN — Sheriff Jerry Greene on Thursday confirmed that the rapes that former Mahoning County jail inmate Rondell Harris is accused of committing in the Mahoning County jail May 5 involved a female deputy who works at the jail being the victim.

WFMJ TV-21 reported that officers at the jail were checking on Harris in the medical housing unit when they discovered that a sexual assault had just occurred.

Harris, 33, was indicted Thursday on two counts of rape, two counts of kidnapping, one count of felonious assault and one count of assault. Some of the charges also carry specifications that allege that Harris is a “sexually violent predator.” Such specifications add more prison time if convicted.

The charges and specifications together could result in a prison sentence of well over 50 years if Harris is convicted.

The rape charges allege that he compelled the woman to submit to the rape by force or threat of force. The felonious assault charge alleges that Harris caused serious physical harm to the woman.

Harris’ address on the indictment is the Trumbull County jail because Harris was transferred to that jail the same day the alleged offenses occurred.

His address in Trumbull County records is the Southern Ohio Correctional Facility in Lucasville, where he was being housed prior to being shipped to the Mahoning County jail to face charges of disrupting public services and vandalism.

Those charges are alleged to have happened Jan. 13 through Jan. 28. Judge Maureen Sweeney of Mahoning County Common Pleas Court on March 24 ordered that Harris be brought to the Mahoning County jail to face the earlier Mahoning County charges.

He was in the Ohio State Penitentiary in Youngstown at the time, according to court documents. He was arraigned on the disrupting public service and vandalism April 5, and bond was set at $15,000.

Ohio Department of Rehabilitation and Correction documents indicate that Harris is currently an ODRC inmate at the Ohio State Penitentiary, having been admitted there July 14. He was serving a one-year sentence for carrying a concealed weapon out of Portage County Common Pleas Court.

According to WKYC-TV, Harris is from East Cleveland and was among three men arrested by law enforcement in Kent carrying out a concentrated drug and weapons enforcement surveillance on April 15.

Durig a traffic stop, officers pulled over Harris and two other men from the Cleveland area. They found Harris to have a loaded handgun within his reach in the vehicle, the TV station reported.

erunyan@vindy.com