FORT GRATIOT, MI-- A former corrections officer with the Marquette County Sheriff’s Department has been sentenced for criminal sexual conduct with an inmate.
Gemma Cowperthwaite, 26, of downstate Fort Gratiot pleaded guilty in May to sexual assault with intent to commit sexual penetration. She was accused of having a relationship with an inmate at the St. Clair County Jail who was on work release.
Cowperthwaite was originally charged with second-degree CSC, punishable by up to 15 years in prison.
Cowperthwaite was sentenced last month to ten months in jail with credit for one day served. She will also be placed on the state’s sex offender registry for life.
Cowperthwaite was employed in St. Clair County for nine months. She had previously worked at the Marquette jail for more than a year.
