YOUNGSTOWN — Damon K. Perry, no age available, a former Mahoning County sheriff’s deputy, was arraigned Friday in U.S. District Court in Youngstown on two counts of sexual abuse of a detainee and two counts of sexual abuse.

He is accused of engaging in sexual conduct with a jail inmate in November of 2023 while on duty in the jail. In one Nov. 9, 2023, incident and one Nov. 30, 2023, incident, he is accused of engaging in a sex act with the inmate.

He also is accused of engaging in a sex act with the inmate without the inmate’s consent, “including through Perry’s coercion” of the inmate, the indictments allege.

In all of the incidents, Perry is accused of being at work as a housing deputy at the time of the offenses.

The charges are federal because the facility houses federal inmates under a contract with a federal agency, according to Perry’s indictment. The jail houses inmates under a contract with the U.S. Marshals Service, in addition to housing inmates arrested on local charges.

Mahoning County Sheriff Jerry Greene clarified that housing deputies are responsible for supervising inmates who are in the jail under federal detention or under detention for local charges. The federal and local detainees are not housed in separate areas.

“Once we became aware that there was an allegation of this misconduct, our office started an investigation into these allegations. He immediately resigned when we started the investigation,” Greene said.

Shortly after the sheriff’s office started its investigation, the federal Inspector General’s Office decided it wanted to take the case federally, “so we handed the investigation off to them,” Greene said.

Perry was hired as a deputy Oct. 14, 2008, and resigned Dec. 21, 2023, Greene said.

“Obviously this is extremely disappointing to all of us at the sheriff’s office, but I am going to reserve any additional comments until the final disposition of this case,” Greene said.

Perry was indicted Dec. 5, and Magistrate Judge Carmen Henderson arraigned Perry Friday in Youngstown. Perry pleaded not guilty, and Magistrate Judge Henderson set bond at $20,000, which Perry posted.

The case will be handled by U.S. District Court Judge Charles E. Fleming in U.S. District Court in Cleveland. The case is set for a pretrial hearing 10 a.m. Feb. 5 and a jury trial 9 a.m. Feb. 18.