ARAPAHO (AP) — A female state prison inmate who served time in the Custer County jail testified Tuesday that she performed oral sex on former Sheriff Mike Burgess after he promised to have her sentence reduced.

The woman’s testimony came during a preliminary hearing for Burgess, 55, who is facing 35 felony charges, including 14 counts of second-degree rape, seven counts of forcible oral sodomy and five counts of bribery by a public official. Burgess’ attorneys maintain their client is innocent.

The 46-year-old inmate, who is serving a five-year prison sentence for forgery and possession of stolen property, testified that while she was serving a one-year sentence on an unrelated misdemeanor in Custer County in 2006, Burgess approached her about being a trusty.

Burgess questioned her about her past life and indicated he knew she had been a prostitute, the woman said. She then testified Burgess told her they could “exchange favors.”

“He can get my time reduced, and I can give him sexual favors,” the woman said.

Shortly after becoming a trusty, the woman said she was escorted to Burgess’ office, where she performed oral sex on him.

“I knew what I was there for, to pay my part of the bargain,” the woman said.

She said she never filed a formal complaint about the incident but did tell other inmates about what happened.

The woman said she observed other questionable events while in jail, including jailers who asked female inmates to expose their breasts.

“There was jailers that was asking us to flash them stuff. It’s something the girls were doing,” the woman said.

On cross-examination, Burgess’ defense attorney, Tim Henderson, asked her why she never reported the incident to authorities.

“It was none of nobody’s business. It was my problem,” the woman said. “I try to push it out of my mind.”

Earlier in the day, a former Custer County sheriff’s deputy testified that Burgess groped her and grabbed her buttocks several times while she was employed at the sheriff’s office.

Jennifer Tyler, now a deputy sheriff in the state of Washington, testified that before her first day of the job, Burgess ordered her to Custer County to be fitted for a sheriff’s office uniform. Tyler said after she put on a pair of pants, the sheriff put his hand down the back of the trousers and touched her waistline and buttocks.

“It’s degrading to have someone who just hired you to stick his hands down your pants,” Tyler said.

Tyler, 33, testified that Burgess also grabbed her buttocks during a trip to Oklahoma City in 2004 and groped her outside a courtroom in 2005.

“There was kind of like a groping session there,” Tyler said. “He’s laughing. He thinks it’s funny.”

Under cross-examination by defense attorney Tim Henderson, Tyler said she did not report the incidents to anyone in the sheriff’s office but told her husband what had happened.

“Why didn’t you turn around and knock him out right there?” Henderson asked.

Tyler responded: “Looking back, I wish I would have.

“I needed a job.”

Henderson also questioned Tyler about reports she was occasionally flirtatious with her co-workers, but Tyler described her relationship with other deputies as like brothers and sisters.

“I’m not ashamed of my behavior,” Tyler said.

Burgess, 55, faces up to 467 years in prison if convicted on all counts. Another of Burgess’ attorneys, Steve Huddleston of Oklahoma City, has said Burgess is eager to go to court and clear his name.

Burgess also faces two counts each of sexual battery, rape by instrumentation and subornation of perjury as well as one count each of engaging in a pattern of criminal offenses, indecent exposure and kidnapping.

Burgess resigned in April from the position he had held since 1994.