At the same time that two convicted murderers were on the run after breaking out of a maximum security prison in Upstate New York, allegedly with help from a prison employee, a Boscobel prison guard was having a sexual affair with an inmate at the Wisconsin Secure Program Facility (WSPF), authorities allege. They also say she provided the inmate with a smart phone, which was discovered when the inmate was moved from General Population to Segregation after getting in a fight with another inmate.

WSPF officials contacted the Grant County Sheriff’s Department on June 15 after they discovered the phone and tracked it to the guard, who they believed was fraternizing with the inmate on one of the prison’s General Population units.

Grant County Detective Craig Reukauf was assigned to the case and conducted a lengthy investigation. After reviewing all of the information gathered during the course of the investigation, Cheryl Bartels, 58, of rural Prairie du Chien, was charged with 26 felony counts. If convicted of all counts, Bartels could receive what essentially amounts to a life sentence.

Bartels is charged with 10 counts of Delivering Articles to an Inmate, as well as 16 counts of Sexual Contact or Intercourse with an Individual Confined to a Correctional Institution.

Delivering Articles to an Inmate is a class I felony punishable by a fine not to exceed $10,000 or imprisonment not to exceed 3 years and 6 months, or both. Sexual Contact or Sexual Intercourse with an Individual Confined to a Correctional Institute is a class C felony punishable by a fine not to exceed $100,000 or imprisonment not to exceed 40 years, or both.