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SCI-Fayette employee waives contraband charge to court

By The 1 min read
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Three felony counts of institutional sexual assault were withdrawn against an employee at a state prison in Luzerne Township on Tuesday.

In exchange for the withdrawals, Natalie Ketchem, 39, of Waynesburg waived a misdemeanor count of contraband to Fayette County Court. There, under an agreement with prosecutors, she will apply for the Accelerated Rehabilitative Disposition program, which is a diversionary program for first-time, non-violent offenders.

State police had alleged Ketchem, a food service instructor at the State Correctional Institution at Fayette, was caught on security cameras having sex with a male inmate at the lockup.

When the charges were filed in October, a representative for the state Department of Corrections said that Ketchem has worked at the facility since 2007 and was suspended.

Ketchem is free on $25,000 unsecured bond. She will be arraigned in common pleas court next month.

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