Correctional officer from Cape Coral pleads guilty to making false statements

Heather Lee Kussoff, 31, of Cape Coral, pleads guilty to making false statements to a federal law enforcement agency, the state attorney’s office said Tuesday.

Kussoff worked as a correctional officer at the Coleman Federal Correctional Center in Sumter County, Fla., according to the plea agreement.

In 2014, Kussoff developed an improper intimate relationship with an inmate of the prison, according to the state attorney’s office. She shared extensive information of her personal life, and communicated directly with the inmate’s family.

When Kussoff was confronted by federal authorities on March 18, 2015, she lied under oath about the romantic relationship and then abruptly resigned from the Bureau of Prisons.

Kussoff faces a maximum sentence of five years in prison, according to the state attorney’s office.