OTTAWA — An ex-Putnam County Corrections Officer has been indicted on charges of bribery and dereliction of duty by a Putnam County Grand Jury.
Laurie Watt, 47, of Lafayette, was charged with one count bribery, a third-degree felony, and one count dereliction of duty, a second-degree misdemeanor, related to an incident that allegedly happened between March 2 and 4.
Watt allegedly paid Putnam County Corrections Officer Richard Emry $100 to take his post for the purpose of having unsupervised access to Putnam County Jail inmate William Miller and allegedly providing Miller with contraband while on duty. This was in violation of jail procedures and policy, leading to the dereliction of duty charge.
According to Watt’s two-week notice dated March 1, provided by the Putnam County Sheriff’s Office, she announced her intent to resign as a full-time corrections officer effective March 18 and requested to stay employed as a part-time corrections officer.
Watt had her employment terminated immediately in a letter signed by Putnam County Sheriff Brian Siefker March 6.
“Your recent interactions with inmates violates office policy, ethical policy and is unacceptable behavior for a corrections officer,” Siefker stated in the termination letter.
Siefker was unavailable for comment Thursday.
Arraignment for Watt is scheduled for 10 a.m. May 16.
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