Inmate Sues Corrections Officer After Claiming She Was Sexually Assaulted While Being Transported

(KNSI) — A Foley man, who worked for the Department of Corrections, is being sued by a female inmate after saying he sexually assaulted her while being transported from one jail to another.

The woman, who Randy Beehler was taking from the Olmsted County jail in southern Minnesota to Hennepin County jail in Minneapolis in 2019, says Beehler told her he was stopping for some food in Cannon Falls and asked the woman if she’d like anything. She said she would “do anything” for some food, which the complaint states Beehler then asked if that included coming up to the front seat and “fooling around.”

The criminal complaint says they stopped at a restaurant, and he bought each of them a meal and drove to an abandoned building in Cannon Falls. At that point, she says he uncuffed her and brought her to the front seat, where she says he sexually assaulted her.

Beehler initially denied the allegations, but GPS evidence and DNA collected from napkins in a trash can near where she said the alleged incident happened proved she was telling the truth.

He pleaded guilty to one felony charge of third-degree criminal sexual conduct in March.

The woman claims that the Department of Corrections acted negligently by allowing a male corrections officer to transport a female inmate alone and without direct supervision.

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