Saturday, September 23, 2000
Prison worker pleads guilty to illicit affair
By Sheila McLaughlin
The Cincinnati Enquirer
LEBANON — Rommell Knox and Tamara Welton worked together for two years before they fell in love.
But their racy romance was far from the story of Romeo and Juliet.
She was the boss of the clothing supply office at Warren Correctional Institution until March. He was a convicted killer, a year her junior who was assigned to work for her.
Tamara Welton
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Rommell Knox
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Their sexual shenanigans — which investigators said happened almost daily for a year in the supply room — now could send Ms. Welton, a divorced mother and lieutenant in the National Guard, to prison for up to 10 years.
In an agreement with prosecutors, Ms. Welton, 30, of North College Hill pleaded guilty Friday to two counts of sexual battery. In exchange, Judge Neal Bronson of Warren County Common Pleas Court dismissed three additional counts of the charge.
Under different circumstances, Ms. Welton would not have faced charges. But, as a prison employee who supervised inmates, the relationship was a crime, prosecutors said.
Standing before the judge, Ms. Welton offered no explanation for her indiscretions, but told the judge she understood she could go to prison.
“They fell in love,” her lawyer, Konrad Kircher, said later outside the courtroom. “She is a hard-working and good person who made a terrible mistake.”
He is hoping the plea will prove to the judge that Ms. Welton was willing to take responsibility for her actions. That should give her a chance at probation, instead of prison, he said.
Ms. Welton remains free on bail until her sentencing next month and is now working at a department store, where she is seeking a promotion to manager, Mr. Kircher said.
On Friday, Judge Bronson gave Ms. Welton permission to leave the area so she could visit her young daughter in Alabama, where the child lives with Ms. Welton's ex-husband.
Ms. Welton quit her job as quartermaster at WCI in March when prison officials told her they were going to begin disciplinary action.
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