A judge sentenced a former Tama County jailer to two years of probation for having sex with an inmate for a period of months while employed by the county.
Kayla Mae Bergom, 28, of Belle Plaine, was charged last year with three counts of sexual misconduct with an offender, an aggravated misdemeanor. She pleaded to the three charges last September in Tama County District Court and was sentenced last week.
According to the criminal complaint, she had sex with a 29-year-old inmate from Cedar Rapids who was in the Tama County Jail at different times in 2020 and in April 2021.
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Bergom engaged in sex acts with the defendant in a utility closet during October 2020 and in the recreation yard in September 2020 and April 2021, the complaints stated.
Tama County Sheriff Dennis Kucera said Bergom resigned from the department. She had worked as a jailer for three years, he said.
Sixth Judicial District Judge Justin Lightfoot on Friday sentenced Bergom to concurrent prison sentences for a total of two years. He then suspended the prison sentence and gave her two years of supervised probation.
Conditions of probation include no further law violations, payment of any restitution owed and attendance and successful completion of the sexual offender treatment program.
Lightfoot also ordered Bergom to register as a sex offender and comply with all requirements for 10 years. She must serve a special sentence of parole for 10 years following her two years probation because this is sexual offense, according to the judge’s sentencing order.
The conviction is considered a sexual predatory offense, which can be used to enhance future prison time for similar offenses, the order stated.
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The former inmate, Christopher Cungtion Jr., now 30, of Cedar Rapids, is suing Tama County, Sheriff Kucera, jail administrator Brian Randall and Bergom for their direct or negligent role in the sexual misconduct against him. Cungtion, who wasn’t named in Bergom’s complaint, filed the lawsuit pro se — without a lawyer.
According to lawsuit, the Cungtion was in jail for assault pending a probation revocation in April 2021 when he and Bergom had sex on three separate occasions and engaged in intimate contact several times while he was in jail.
The suit contends their relationship increased the inmate’s “preexisting issue with anxiety.” In addition to his “mental dimension of suffering,” he also was physically threatened with extortion by another inmate, and it led to a fight between him and another inmate.
Bergom also violated Cungtion’s privacy by taking video recordings on her cellphone of him from jail surveillance, according to the suit. In one incident, she video recorded a sexual act.
Following her termination, Cungtion accuses Bergom of posting to social media that the inmate was a “snitch,” the lawsuit stated. She also used information from the inmate’s recorded phone calls and text messages to “slander” him and place him in danger while he was in jail.
The suit demands a jury trial and seeks punitive damages for physical and mental distress and also administrative changes to the policies and procedures of the jail.
His civil trial is set for Sept. 11.
Judge sentences former jailer to 2 years probation for sex with inmate
A former Tama County jailer was sentenced to two years probation for having sex with an inmate over a period of months in 2020 and in April of 2021. The former inmate, a Cedar Rapids man, is suing the county, sheriff and former jailer over the incidents.
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