A former Tuscaloosa Police sergeant pleaded guilty today to a criminal civil rights charge of using his authority as a law enforcement officer to sexually assault a woman in March 2011.



Jason Glenn Thomas, 34, admitted to stopping a female pedestrian without placing her under arrest, according to court documents cited by a U.S. Department of Justice news release. Thomas was accused of taking the woman in his patrol vehicle to a remote area and sexually assaulting her.



"This former officer did the unimaginable when he used his police powers to sexually assault this victim," said Roy L. Austin, Jr., Deputy Assistant Attorney General for the Department of Justice's Civil Rights Division, in the news release. "The Justice Department will continue to vigorously prosecute those who abuse their position and authority to harm those individuals whom they have sworn to protect."



Thomas was charged in a five-count federal indictment in May 2012.



"Most police officers work diligently every day to protect the citizens," said U.S. Attorney Joyce White Vance. "A community must be able to trust its police officers. My office is committed to prosecuting any officers who abuse the authority of the badge to commit a crime. This abuse of the public's trust will not be permitted."



The case was prosecuted by Trial Attorney D.W. Tunnage of the Justice Department's Civil Rights Division and Assistant U.S. Attorney George Martin for the Northern District of Alabama. The investigation was conducted by the Tuscaloosa resident agency of the FBI's Birmingham Field Office.



"Mr. Thomas dishonored his badge and his fellow officers when he violated the civil rights of a female pedestrian while on duty, in uniform and in a marked patrol car," said Richard D. Schwein Jr., FBI Special Agent in Charge of the FBI's Birmingham Field Office. "Citizens have a right and should expect ethical and proper treatment from all law enforcement officers and we, as civil servants, must never forget that we have sworn an oath to serve and protect them. The public can be assured the FBI will continue to aggressively pursue those rogue officers who violate that trust."



Thomas is scheduled to be sentenced on July 18 before U.S. District Judge C. Lynwood Smith. He faces a maximum sentence of 10 years in prison and a fine of $250,000, according to the Department of Justice.



A civil suit filed by the victim on March 1 names Thomas, the city, Tuscaloosa Mayor Walt Maddox and Tuscaloosa Police Chief Steve Anderson as defendants.



The victim is seeking compensatory and punitive damages against Thomas and compensatory damages and injunctive relief against Thomas, Anderson and Maddox. The complaint states that inadequate supervision and training "resulted in a work environment that permitted the sexual assault" of the victim, according to court documents.



Tuscaloosa police spokesman Sgt. Brent Blankley said in an email to media that the city has no comment on the issue due to the pending civil lawsuit against the city.



