Investigators said Michael
Burton sexually assaulted a client who reported to him as part of the client's
probation. Burton is on paid administrative leave. The probation office is
charged with custodial sexual misconduct. He was booked into the Tuscaloosa County
Jail and posted $15,000 bail.
The investigators handling the case believe the criminal
charges could be upgraded once the case goes to a grand jury.
According to the Tuscaloosa Metro Homicide Unit, the victim
reported to his parole officer, Michael Burton, at Burtons’ office on Tuesday
around 3:30. That's allegedly when the assault took place.
The assistant executive director of the Alabama Parole and
Probation office in Montgomery, Eddie Cook Jr said he expects officers to
uphold a certain code of ethics. “Anytime we have a situation like this it is
definitely a thorn in the side to know that you have any employee that could
possibly be thinking about committing a crime of this nature. Now there again
Mr. Burton has not been convicted of this, but the allegations are strong and
they don't look good. And no agency wants to hear that from its employees.”
According to Loyd Baker, with the Tuscaloosa Metro Homicide
Unit, Burton had been the victim's parole officer since January 10th. After
investigators finished the initial interview with the alleged victim at the
sheriff’s office, he went directly to the hospital for a sexual assault test.
The results from the test aren't available yet.
Baker said they don't know what the victim's motivation
could be, if he is lying about the incident. “Basically we looked into, when
the initial complaint came in, did he have motive to fabricate a story to try
to get out of some sort of charge or prolonged probation. But we found that he
was about to be off probation next month,” Baker added.
Investigators said the strongest piece of evidence they have
is an audio recording of the alleged incident that the victim apparently
recorded on his cell phone.
The Alabama Parole and Probation office is conducting their
own investigation during the 10 days Burton is on leave