A former prison guard, already accused in York County of sexually assaulting a female inmate under his supervision, has been indicted on a new, similar charge in Cumberland County.

Bret Butterfield, 23, of Auburn, was indicted in the new case on a felony count of gross sexual assault, the same charge he already faces in York County, the Cumberland County District Attorney’s Office announced Wednesday.

The victim in both cases is a female former prison inmate who was under Butterfield’s supervision while he worked at the Southern Maine Re-entry Center, a state facility in Alfred for women nearing the end of their sentences, said Tamara Getchell, a spokeswoman for the district attorney’s office.

Butterfield was charged twice because he allegedly committed the offenses at locations in both counties while the woman was in custody and while she was out on furlough at her grandmother’s house in Scarborough.

Butterfield, who is married, is accused of having sex with the woman in a prison office, a prison bathroom, her grandmother’s house, in prison transport vehicles and in a hospital room where she was taken while in custody to have her appendix removed.

Butterfield was first arrested in the York County case on Aug. 26 and remained in custody at the York County Jail in Alfred until he made bail last month.

A judge in York County Superior Court reduced Butterfield’s bail from $50,000 to $1,000 after a court hearing Sept. 12, clearing the way for his release on the same day. The judge agreed to the bail reduction, in part, because Maine Pretrial Services agreed to supervise Butterfield while his case is pending.

The charge in the York County case is identical to the new charge in Cumberland County. Both are Class B felonies, punishable by up to 10 years in prison.

Butterfield’s attorney, Neal Weinstein, did not return a phone message seeking comment.

Butterfield also is accused in York County of having a sexual relationship with another female inmate after she was released from the Southern Maine Re-entry Center last year, and of making sexual advances toward other inmates under his supervision at the Alfred facility, according to an affidavit filed with the court by a Department of Corrections investigator seeking the warrant for Butterfield’s arrest.

The affidavit, by investigator David Verrier, documents multiple interviews he conducted with women who are current or former inmates of the Southern Maine Re-entry Center. Some of the statements the women made conflict with one another, but the inmate who Butterfield is accused of assaulting told the investigator she did have sex with him while she was still an inmate, the 22-page report says.

A court date for the new charge has yet to be set in Cumberland County.

Scott Dolan can be contacted at 791-6304 or at:

sdolan@pressherald.com

Twitter: @scottddolan

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