Former inmate, 16: Ex-guard watched me

BATTLE CREEK, Mich. (WOOD) - The former Calhoun County jail guard already accused of sexual assault outside the jail is now the subject of new allegations that suggest sexual misconduct inside the jail involving at least one young inmate.

The new claims are outlined in a federal lawsuit filed by a jail nurse who says she was fired by that's guard father, the undersheriff, after she brought the concerns to light.

Ian Osborne, 16, said he filed a written complaint -- also known as a "kite" -- with the jail last November against the Troy Pope and that it went nowhere.

"I'd turn my head and I'd notice him just watching me shower," Osborne, with his mother present, told Target 8. "He was like, 'You know, you've got a nice body, this and that.' I said, 'That's not something you'd tell somebody. I'm going to report you.'"

Pope is the son of former Calhoun County Undersheriff Thomas Pope, who retired at the end of last year.

Osborne was locked up last June for violating probation. A juvenile, he was treated as an adult for a series of mostly property crimes.

Osborne's name appears in a jail email obtained by Target 8 through the Freedom of Information Act.

In that email, written by a jail administrative assistant in September 2012, Osborne is quoted as saying that Troy Pope had given him a "Snickers Ice Cream" the day before, and that he described Pope as his "friend."

"Upon looking at the log sheet hanging on the door, it showed Deputy Pope had taken Ian for a shower and rec time" that day, the email states.

Osborne told Target 8 Pope was the deputy who regularly took him to the shower.

"When I would change he was watching me the whole time, sitting on his elbow like this, just staring at me showering," Osborne said.

He said he filled out a complaint -- he believes it was in November 2012.

"I said, Mr. Troy Pope when he takes me to the shower, he's made sexual comments to me, harassing me about my body, telling me that I have a good body and that he likes watching me shower, 'cause it's soothing," Osborne said.

Osborne said a jail sergeant talked to him about two weeks later. He said that was the last he heard of it and that Pope took him to the shower just once more after that.

Osborne said Pope never tried to touch him.

The complaint would have been filed two months before Pope was charged with sex crimes that allegedly happened outside the jail. He's accused of forcing himself on a 15-year-old in 2004 when Pope himself was 17.

He's also accused of third-degree sexual assault, using a computer to commit a crime and accosting a minor for sex.

Following those charges, Pope was fired.

Osborne, who is not a victim in those cases, said he also told a jail nurse about Pope.

"She said, 'You know, he's not as good as you think. He's kind of weird." And I said, 'What do you mean?' She said, 'That's all I can tell you is that he's kind of weird. Just watch out,'" Osborne recalled.

That nurse, Mary Buckingham, filed a federal lawsuit this week, claiming she was illegally fired after raising suspicions about Troy Pope last year.

She claims former undersheriff Thomas Pope was behind it. He denied that allegation to Target 8 Wednesday.

"I didn't do any such thing and I wouldn't do any such thing," Thomas Pope said.

Michigan State Police say they are reviewing the nurse's lawsuit to see if it might identify other possible victims.

MSP also said the Calhoun County Sheriff's Department provided it with Osborne's name as a potential interviewee in January after the new sheriff and undersheriff took office. Investigators plan to interview Osborne.