Female prison inmates claim rape at Oklahoma governor's mansion

Prosecutors are investigating claims that the former head chef and chief groundskeeper at the Oklahoma governor's mansion raped three female prison inmates assigned to work on the mansion's grounds.

Neither man has been charged, but the Department of Central Services fired both of them Sept. 29 for violating departmental policies after a three-month Department of Corrections investigation.

The allegations raise questions about security at the chief executive's residence and oversight of a program meant in part to reward good inmate behavior by allowing them leave prison for the day and work off-site.

The state Department of Corrections believes the former state workers who supervised the inmates at the governor's mansion committed sexual battery, forcible sodomy and rape against the Hillside Community Corrections Center inmates, Department of Corrections spokesman Jerry Massie said Monday. The department recently turned its findings over to Oklahoma County District Attorney David Prater's office.

Assistant District Attorney Scott Rowland said Monday that prosecutors met with Department of Corrections investigators for two hours Friday and that the investigation is ongoing.

--Associated Press story continues below--