Damon K. Perry, 52, of Youngstown, a former Mahoning County Sheriff’s deputy, pleaded guilty Thursday in U.S. District Court in Cleveland to two counts of sexual abuse of a federal detainee and two counts of sexual abuse for engaging in sexual conduct with a jail inmate in November 2023 while Perry was on duty.

Judge Donald C. Nugent will sentence Perry at 10 a.m. Sept. 2, according to online federal court records. Perry remains free on bond.

Perry engaged in sexual conduct with an inmate Nov. 9, 2023, and Nov. 30, 2023, according to Perry’s federal indictment. 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. The inmate was a federal detainee, according to a press release from the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Northern District of Ohio.

Mahoning County Sheriff Jerry Greene clarified in December 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.

“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 in December.