TEXAS CITY, Texas — A federal jailer accused of sexual relations with a female inmate at Houston hotels was arrested at his Texas City home, authorities said Thursday.
Bond for Robert Louis Zeigler, 39, was set at $2,000 on a charge of improper sexual activity with a person in custody, court documents reveal.
Officials with the Office of Inspector General under the U.S. Department of Justice, with the assistance of Texas City police, arrested Zeigler at 5:40 p.m. Wednesday at his residence in the 300 block of Golden Oak Drive, authorities said.
The inmate, a 24-year-old woman, was a prisoner at the federal detention center in Houston until August. She was then moved to a Houston halfway house and placed in community custody, according to a complaint filed in Harris County’s 183rd District Court by Fred Ball Jr., a special agent with the Office of Inspector General.
"Through monitoring of telephone calls at the federal detention center, officials became aware of an inappropriate relationship," Ball stated in the complaint.
The inmate told investigators that in September and October she engaged in sexual intercourse at two Houston hotels, the complaint states. The inmate told Ball that Zeigler gave her $440 to help pay some of her bills, the complaint states.
Ball interviewed Zeigler on Nov. 6.
Zeigler was charged with one count of improper sexual activity with a person in custody, stemming from an Oct. 15 encounter, the complaint states. The charge is a state jail felony, a spokeswoman for the Harris County District Attorney’s Office, said.
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