A former county inmate who alleges he was raped by another inmate filed a $5 million federal lawsuit against Adams County Sheriff Tommy Ferrell and the county this month.

In the lawsuit filed in U.S. District Court, the victim’s attorney, Tim Blalock, argues the sheriff and the county put the teenager in a danger by placing him in a cell with violent, adult felons at the Adams County Jail.

The victim, who was 17 when he reported the assault, claims he was raped by convicted felon, Louis McDonald, 17 Dogwood Drive, in December 1998.

According to the lawsuit, the teenager had asked not to be placed into cell block 3-B because he was afraid of the adult inmates.

After the victim complained to jailers that the inmates were taking his food and threatening him, he was removed from the cell, the lawsuit alleges. He was returned to the same cell on Dec. 17, 1998, and reported the rape the next day.

Also, at that time &uot;the jail contained defective locks which further subjected the minor plaintiff to harm,&uot; the lawsuit says.

Attorneys filed the request for a jury trial March 13 and the case is still in the initial filing stages.

&uot;The reason we filed suit is we hope some good will come out of it,&uot; Blalock said. He said he hopes the lawsuit will prevent the same thing from happening to other teenagers.

At the time of the assault, the teenager had been in jail for about six months on charges of false pretense and trespass less than larceny. McDonald was bound over to the grand jury on the charge, but since it is a difficult offense to prove, prosecutors did not proceed with the case.

Instead, McDonald agreed to plead guilty as an habitual offender to the 1996 armed robbery of a grocery store. He was sentenced to 15 years in prison.

Ferrell said he could not comment on the details of the case but described the lawsuit as a &uot;frivolous&uot; lawsuit.

Over the past three years, the sheriff’s department has been sued about 100 times by inmates for a variety of reasons, he said.

&uot;We have never lost a case and never will because they are frivolous,&uot; he said.

McDonald, the inmate accused of the rape, has also filed a lawsuit against the sheriff’s department because he was isolated from other prisoners after the alleged assault.

&uot;Of all the offices in the (criminal justice) system, I’m the only one that gets sued,&uot;&160;Ferrell said. &uot;I do not think that’s right, but it goes on in every county in the United States.&uot;

The sheriff’s department has insurance as protection against these types of cases, but they still place a burden on the taxpayers, Ferrell said.

&uot;It would be staggering to really know the amount of money that’s wasted because of these types of lawsuits,&uot; Ferrell said.

The department has been sued for such things as treating an inmate differently because he has AIDS and putting an inmate into a cell block with an inmate who has AIDS, Ferrell said.

One inmate also sued because he feared a cherry-picker moving equipment off the roof might have dropped it on top of his cell, he added.

&uot;I certainly am considered responsible, but I can not stand there beside them 24-hours a day,&uot; Ferrell said.

The county was just recently served papers on this latest federal lawsuit and have 30 days to respond.