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- A federal lawsuit says a Yuba County jail officer kidnapped a female inmate.
- The lawsuit says sheriff’s staff missed forged transport forms and failed checks.
- Former officer Matthew Troy Babb was convicted of sexually assaulting the inmate.
A civil lawsuit against Yuba County alleges one of its correctional officers sexually assaulted a female jail inmate last year while she was bound with wrist restraints and leg shackles in the back seat of a sheriff’s transportation vehicle.
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Matthew Troy Babb, the now-convicted and former Yuba County sheriff’s correctional officer, forged documents to get the incarcerated woman off jail grounds, kidnap her and sexually assault her, according to the civil rights lawsuit filed in federal court in Sacramento.
Attorneys Robert Chalfant and Jack Kopp filed the lawsuit last week on behalf of the woman, identified in court documents as a “Jane Doe” plaintiff. The lawsuit also alleges that multiple Yuba County sheriff’s officials failed to review Babb’s forged documents — or simply ask Babb what he was doing — to stop the correctional officer’s scheme to kidnap the woman and sexually assault her.
Chalfant told The Sacramento Bee that federal, state and county correctional facilities in California are facing thousands of lawsuits by people who have experienced sexual abuse by guards while in custody.
“However, this is the first case I have seen where the correctional officer actually kidnapped the inmate to get them out of the jail to sexually assault them,” Chalfant said. “We look forward to finding out how something like this could happen in a secure correctional facility.”
A Yuba County spokesperson did not respond to a request from The Bee seeking comment for this story.
Details in the federal lawsuit
On Sept. 10, 2025, Jane Doe had completed serving a jail sentence in Placer County, and she was transported to the jail in Marysville for a Yuba County criminal case. Babb was assigned to the sheriff’s transportation unit, and he picked up the inmate in Placer County that day.
The lawsuit alleges that county policy requires jail inmates to be restrained in handcuffs, waist chains and leg shackles while being transported. The lawsuit also alleges the county jail allows individual transports with a single correctional officer of the opposite gender, even though it acknowledges these transports are unsafe and expose female inmates to the risk of sexual assault.
During the drive to the jail in Marysville, Babb told the victim that he was attracted to her, told her she was beautiful, made sexual remarks about her body and told her he was sexually aroused, according to the lawsuit.
When they arrived in Marysville, the correctional officer intentionally brushed his hands across the inmate’s breasts while taking off her seat belt. The lawsuit alleges Babb then told Jane Doe that he had had sex with other inmates he transported while working as a correctional officer.
Ten days later, she was called out of her jail cell and told to go to the infirmary. Babb was there, the lawsuit alleges, and he pulled her into a hallway and told her he looked into her criminal case and that he “could not stop thinking about her.” Jane Doe did not receive medical attention that day, and medical staff returned her to her jail cell.
Fake medical appointment
On Oct. 3, 2025, another correctional officer told Jane Doe she had a medical appointment at an outside facility and told her to go the jail booking area. The lawsuit alleges this correctional officer failed to review documents Babb submitted for her to be transported to an off-site medical facility, which would have revealed the documents were forged, falsified and fabricated “for the sole purpose of kidnapping Jane Doe from the Yuba County Jail” to sexually assault her.
The plaintiff’s attorneys argue that multiple jail employees failed to confirm the authenticity of the documents submitted by Babb, failed to confirm the medical appointment at the off-site facility and failed to question Babb about the medical appointment, allowing her to be released in Babb’s sole custody.
Babb was waiting for the inmate in the jail booking area. When she asked the medical appointment was for, Babb told her “I don’t know, I am just the transport officer,” according to the lawsuit.
Jane Doe, wearing in wrist restraints and leg shackles, was placed in the back seat of a sheriff’s patrol vehicle for transportation. Babb was wearing his Yuba County sheriff’s uniform. Inside the vehicle, Babb told her that she didn’t have a medical appointment, and he was going to get fuel near the Yuba County Airport. He drove her away from the jail at 10:22 a.m. that day.
The lawsuit alleges that Babb spotted several Yuba County sheriff’s detectives at the fuel station pumps, so he continued driving past them and parked down the street to avoid interacting with the detectives.
A sheriff’s sergeant spotted the patrol vehicle driven by Babb parked there about 10:30 a.m. that day. The plaintiff’s attorneys argue that sergeant failed to investigate to see why Babb was parked there and, had they done so, would have learned Babb had kidnapped an inmate from the jail and was avoiding detection and arrest.
After refueling the patrol vehicle, Babb told Jane Doe he wanted to have sex with her, and his house was down the street, according to the lawsuit. The correctional officer also told the inmate he forged the vehicle mileage to have time alone with her.
Kidnapped inmate was terrified
Jane Doe “was terrified” that Babb had just kidnapped her from the jail, and she believed Babb “intended to rape her,” the attorneys said in the lawsuit. She was in restraints and had no way to escape.
The attorneys said Babb told the inmate that he “couldn’t stop thinking about you, and had been thinking about you all week. I have been trying to figure out how to get you out of the jail.”
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Babb drove the inmate to his home but did not stop there after he saw his roommate was home. The lawsuit alleges Babb then drove to a dead-end on Furneaux Road in Olivehurst, where he got out, went to the patrol vehicle’s back seat and sexually assaulted Jane Doe where she was seated.
The correctional officer then drove the inmate to the entrance of the Peach Tree Clinic in Linda, so his arrival would be captured on security cameras and make it appear she had been there for a medical appointment, according to the lawsuit. He then drove her back to the jail.
Her attorneys said she was convinced Babb would kill her to prevent her from telling others and create a false story about escape attempt or attack to justify an unlawful use of deadly force.
“Jane Doe was crying in the back of the patrol car, as she thought that her life was about to end,” the attorneys said in the lawsuit. “Matthew Babb became increasingly psychotic as he was returning to jail and begging and pleading for Jane Doe not to tell anyone.”
Inmates cellmates reported the crime
They arrived at the jail at 11:22 a.m. that day.
“Once safely back inside the jail, Jane Doe returned to her cell and took a long shower where she cried uncontrollably and began throwing up,” her attorneys said in the lawsuit.
Her cellmates saw her in distress and begged her to tell them what happened. She told them. Her cellmates then told her to submit a Prison Rape Elimination Act complaint or that they could do it for her.
At noon that same day, her cellmates notified the correctional officer who failed to review Babb’s documents a few hours earlier.
The Sheriff’s Office began an investigation, interviewing Jane Doe and obtained security camera video from the Power Mart store near Furneaux Road. The video showed Babb in his uniform transporting Jane Doe in the patrol vehicle, according to the lawsuit.
About 5:30 p.m. that day, Babb returned to the jail after transporting another inmate. Detectives told Babb they were confiscating his department-issued handgun, seized his protective vest and other gear, according to the lawsuit. They then escorted Babb to an interview room.
Correctional officer convicted
On July 28, the Yuba County District Attorney’s Office announced that Babb pleaded guilty to sexual assault of the inmate, and he was sentenced to three years in prison.
Yuba Superior Court records show Babb on June 3 pleaded guilty to a felony charge sexual penetration using force. Felony charges of kidnapping and two counts of sexual battery were dismissed, along with a misdemeanor sexually battery charge that was dropped.
Babb, 39, as of Thursday was serving his sentence at North Kern State Prison in Delano. He’ll be eligible for parole in July 2028.
As part of Babb’s criminal case sentence, Yolo Superior Court Judge Benjamin Wirtschafter ordered the former correctional officer to register with local authorities as a convicted sex offender for the rest of his life.
Chalfant said his client was happy to see Babb prosecuted for his crimes. But the attorney was shocked to see Babb’s prison sentence was only three years.
“A three-year prison sentence seems completely inappropriate for the conduct that Matthew Babb admitted,” Chalfant said. “The penalty for aggravated kidnapping to commit rape or sexual penetration is a life prison sentence.”
Chalfant said nobody should have to go through what his client experienced while in custody.
“She has been severely traumatized as a result of Matthew Babb’s conduct and the lax rules at the Yuba County Jail that allow male guards to remove female inmates from the (jail) and drive them anywhere they want without a second officer present,” Chalfant said. “I hope the Yuba County Sheriff’s Department has looked into every instance where he transported a female inmate without a second officer present, because correctional officers that sexually assault inmates never have just one victim.”
At Bab’s July 27 sentencing hearing, Jane Doe’s written impact statement was read in court.
“No one regardless of whether they are incarcerated deserves to be sexually assaulted or exploited by someone trusted with authority over them,” she wrote in her statement. “Although what happened will always be a part of my life, I’m working to heal and move forward. I hope that holding the defendant accountable will help prevent others from experiencing the same abuse.
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“And for you Mr. Babb, shame is no longer my burden to carry, it is now yours.”