A Cherokee County, South Carolina detention officer has been fired and charged with felony sexual misconduct after admitting to having oral sex with a female inmate at the jail where he worked. Daniel Eugene Collins Jr., who had been on the job only since mid-February, was arrested this week following a sheriff's office investigation into the allegations.
According to the WYFF, detention center staff learned on August 2 that Collins may have had oral sex with an inmate at the Cherokee County Detention Center. The Cherokee County Sheriff's Office launched an investigation into the alleged contact and says Collins ultimately confessed. He was arrested, fired from his position, and booked on charges of first-degree sexual misconduct with an inmate and misconduct in office, the outlet reports.
Collins had been hired as a corrections officer on February 17, 2026, meaning his tenure at the facility lasted less than six months before his firing. The sheriff's office has not released additional details about how the alleged encounter came to light beyond the initial report from staff, and formal court dates and bond details remain pending as the case moves through the legal system.
What South Carolina Law Says About Consent Behind Bars
The felony charge Collins faces carries serious weight under state law. Under South Carolina Code § 44-23-1150, first-degree sexual misconduct with an inmate is a felony punishable by up to 10 years in prison, according to WomensLaw.org. Crucially, the statute establishes that incarcerated individuals are legally incapable of consenting to sexual contact with facility staff, meaning any claim of mutual agreement carries no legal weight as a defense.
Collins also faces a charge of misconduct in office, a common-law offense in South Carolina with a maximum prison term of one year. That charge applies when a public official breaches a public duty or abuses official power. Separately, federal standards under the Prison Rape Elimination Act, enacted in 2003 and outlined by the Orange County Sheriff's Department, prohibit all sexual contact between correctional staff and inmates nationwide under a zero-tolerance policy, regardless of any claimed consent.
A Rocky Stretch for the Cherokee County Sheriff's Office
Collins' arrest lands amid a difficult run for the agency overseeing the Gaffney jail. Just weeks earlier, in July, Cherokee County Sheriff's Office deputy Justin Eric Gray was fired after being arrested off-duty in Newberry County on a public disorderly conduct charge, according to The Newberry Observer. Sheriff Steve Mueller said at the time that agency personnel are regularly reminded their conduct must remain above reproach.
The detention center itself has faced contraband problems in recent years. In May 2025, former detention officer Toni Marie Hutchins and three inmates — Christopher Blake Sellars, Leonard Herbert Finch, and Bradley Dean Whitesides Jr. — were charged in connection with a plot to bring methamphetamine and vapes into the same facility, with charges including possession-of-contraband and meth-trafficking charges, The Gaffney Ledger reported. The sheriff's office investigated Collins, and Mueller has served 40 years in public safety; his last day will be January 4, 2027.
Collins' case also fits into a broader pattern of enforcement across the state. In July, South Carolina authorities arrested a probation officer accused of improper sexual relationships with parolees, reflecting continued prosecution of custodial and supervisory misconduct statewide, per a report cited by WTX.
A Small Jail With a Big County Behind It
The Cherokee County Detention Center sits on Dr. L. M. Rosemond Boulevard in Gaffney and has a capacity of 150 beds, according to background compiled by Corrections1. The facility is associated with the Cherokee County Sheriff's Office.
Readers should note that the South Carolina and Oklahoma cases below are separate. Hoodline previously reported on a deputy firing in Cherokee County, Oklahoma, where a deputy was fired and charged with assault after striking a handcuffed man booked into that county's own detention center — an unrelated case in a different state. Cherokee County, South Carolina has also been in the news this year for economic development, having been selected in June for a $1.2 billion magnet manufacturing facility in Blacksburg expected to create nearly 500 local jobs.
