Jailer charged for sex with inmates faces new charge

BUTTE (AP) — A former Jefferson County jailer who faces trial on charges he had sex with female inmates is now charged with selling alcohol to a minor who later died in a crash on Interstate 15, court records said.

Rodney Mortimore was cited on two counts of selling alcohol to someone under the age of 21 on June 25 while he was working at a Boulder convenience store — a job he took after being fired from the Jefferson County jail.

The charges stem from an investigation into a fatal crash in which an underage driver was intoxicated and speeding the wrong way on the interstate.

The citations do not name those involved in the crash, but Samuel Kenton Williams, 20, of Stand Off, Alberta, was killed and his 15-year-old passenger was injured in a wrong-way crash between Butte and Boulder early June 26.

Mortimore, 45, pleaded not guilty to the misdemeanor citations in Justice Court.

His trial on seven counts of sexual intercourse without consent is scheduled to begin Oct. 29. The women told investigators they had sex with Mortimore in exchange for cigarettes. Under state law, inmates cannot legally consent to sex.

Mortimore’s attorney, Mariah Eastman of Bozeman, did not return a phone call from The Associated Press seeking comment Wednesday.