A Shasta County Jail employee who pleaded guilty to having a sexual encounter with a female inmate nearly a year ago will be sentenced in court on Aug. 12.
Luis Sotero Navarro, 60, was arrested on Aug. 18, 2025 and charged with a felony count of engaging in sexual activity with a consenting adult confined to a public health or detention facility at a trial readiness conference held on July 1, 2026, according to the Shasta County District Attorney’s Office.
At the time of his arrest, Navarro was employed as an Adult Custody Cook who supervised inmates while they performed assigned work tasks, according to the Sheriff’s Office.
“I can confirm that this individual is no longer employed by this agency,” Shasta County Sheriff’s Office spokesman Tim Mapes said via email on Monday, July 27.
Shortly after his arrest, Navarro was being held on $250,000 bail. On Monday, he was not among the people being listed as being held at the jail, according to the facility’s inmate roster. The Shasta County Sheriff’s Office oversees the jail.
What allegedly happened in the case
The incident was reported to jail officials on Aug. 16, 2025, after a woman who had been confined to the jail for 10 months reported that a jail staffer had been flirting with her and giving her and other inmates chocolates and tobacco products, according to an investigative report of the incident.
The woman said she and Navarro had exchanged notes for several months and he allegedly told her that he wanted to have a relationship with her outside of jail, the report says. He also offered rings, but she refused to accept them, the report says.
The incarcerated woman said she felt she could not “refuse consent” because she was cornered by Navarro, who was a supervisor at the jail.
The woman was not identified in the sheriff’s office report and the Record Searchlight does not identify alleged victims of sexual crimes.
She reported to an investigator that Navarro arranged to have a third party deposit $100 into the woman’s jail commissary account. The report says the investigator confirmed the money had been sent to the victim’s account.
The female inmate told the investigator that at one point Navarro took her to an area of the jail where there were no surveillance cameras. He would provide her with chocolates and “required her to kiss him in order to receive these chocolates,” according to the report.
At one point, Navarro took the woman out of view of surveillance cameras and put his hands down her pants and penetrated her vagina with his fingers, the report says. “She said she did not feel she could refuse consent during the incident because she was cornered in the room, was in custody and Navarro was in a supervisory role,” according to the investigative report.
The woman was taken to Mercy Medical Center in Redding where she was examined. A nurse corroborated the woman’s account regarding the incident, the report says.
During an interview with investigators, Navarro allegedly admitted to penetrating the woman, providing her with tobacco and chocolates and having $100 deposited into her commissary account, the report says.
Five other female inmates also independently reported the woman discussing her relationship with Navarro or seeing flirting between the two of them, including passing notes, the report says. The other women also said there were occasions when Navarro and the woman disappeared together into other rooms in the jail, the report says.
This story has been updated with new information.
Michele Chandler covers public safety, dining, food and whatever else comes up for the Redding Record Searchlight/USA Today Network. Accepts story tips at 530-338-7753 and at mrchandler@gannett.com. Please support our entire newsroom’s commitment to public service journalism by subscribing today.
This article originally appeared on Redding Record Searchlight: Ex–jail employee admits to sexual assault of inmate
Reporting by Michele Chandler, Redding Record Searchlight / Redding Record Searchlight
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By Michele Chandler, Redding Record Searchlight | USA TODAY Network
