A former Madison County jail inmate alleges that she was raped and forced to perform oral sex on a jailer last year in the detention center’s medical ward.

In a federal lawsuit filed today, the woman accuses now-former jailer Victor Flores De Leon of sexual assault. De Leon has been charged with a crime in connection with the alleged assault.

The lawsuit also names as defendants Sheriff Blake Dorning, his office and the county. Madison County Attorney Jeff Rich said he hadn’t seen the lawsuit when contacted by AL.com. It’s unclear whether De Leon has an attorney. Attempts to reach him weren’t immediately successful.

Victor Flores De Leon is shown in this Oct. 23, 2018 Madison County jail booking photo.

AL.com generally doesn’t identify victims of alleged sexual assault. At the time of the alleged assault, the woman was jailed in connection with multiple charges of drug possession, obstructing justice and possession of a pistol by a felon, records show.

The woman alleges the assault happened the night of Oct. 8, 2018 when she was being treated for a skin infection in the jail infirmary. De Leon, a guard working in the infirmary, falsified a reason to discipline the woman and move her to an isolated cell, the lawsuit states.

Because of her skin infection, the woman was wearing only undergarments when De Leon came into the cell, removed her blanket and clothes, the lawsuit alleges. The woman says De Leon pulled down his pants and forced her to perform oral sex on him. He “then grabbed (the woman’s) hips and forcibly raped her from behind,” according to the lawsuit.

De Leon was arrested Oct. 23, 2018 – just over two weeks after the alleged assault. By then, he was no longer working at the jail. In a criminal complaint, a jail investigator wrote that De Leon “had sexual intercourse with an inmate housed within the Madison County Jail.” De Leon is charged with custodial sexual misconduct, a Class C felony that’s punishable by up to 10 years in prison. He has not been charged with rape.

The woman’s attorney, Eric Artrip, said his client sought to have De Leon charged with rape. He said the charge against De Leon doesn’t fit the alleged crime.

“This was not consensual,” Artrip said. “This was a forcible rape.”

Shortly after the alleged assault, the woman said, she told a jail nurse about what happened. The woman gave jail staff a tissue, which De Leon had used to wipe away physical evidence of the assault, the lawsuit says. The woman underwent a rape kit and examination, according to the lawsuit.

The lawsuit says an investigator told the woman her story was not believable. But, about a week later when the rape kit results were available, the sheriff’s office asked whether the woman wanted to press charges.

Artrip said his client was scared of being Tased or otherwise disciplined if she didn’t perform oral sex on De Leon.

According to the lawsuit, De Leon came to her cell multiple times before the assault, under the pretense of offering personal grooming supplies. “Defendant DeLeon had his belt on during these encounters, with his taser and other weapons fully visible,” the lawsuit says.

The 28-page lawsuit lists nine counts, including assault, invasion of privacy, intentional infliction of emotional distress, negligence, recklessness. The document was filed in federal court for the Northern District of Alabama.

The lawsuit seeks an order from a judge that requires the jail to stop allowing male guards to segregate female inmates into cells to which the men have access in the infirmary.

“The infirmary is the only place at (the jail) where a male guard can discipline a female inmate by segregating her in an unmonitored cell, by herself, to which he had access,” the lawsuit says. In other areas of the jail, female inmates are separated from male inmates and guards, Artrip said.

“We believe the change we are seeking will make inmates in the Madison County Detention Center safer,” he said.