Seneca Woman Charged with Sexual Misconduct Involving State Inmate
Dana Nicole Phillps
39-year-old Dana Nicole Phillips of Seneca was released on a $25,000 personal recognizance bond after being booked into the Oconee County Detention Center on a charge of first-degree sexual misconduct with an inmate.
Joshua Richard Dills
The arrest stemmed from a Sheriff’s Office investigation launched November 13, 2025, into contraband at the facility, which uncovered evidence that Phillips, a contracted healthcare worker (not a county employee), had engaged in sexual intercourse with a state inmate in 2023. During the same probe, 43-year-old inmate Joshua Richard Dills of Walhalla was charged with possession of contraband for having a cellphone in the jail.
Detention Center Captain Jeremy Chapman emphasized that the unnamed state inmate, who was complicit, could not legally consent because he remains in state custody and is considered a ward of the state, making him a victim of a sexual crime.
The Oconee County Sheriff’s Office investigation remains ongoing.