Fentress County Sheriff Charles Cravens pleaded guilty Thursday to three counts of honest services fraud and one count of deprivation of rights under color of law.
The US attorney's office in Nashville said the 47-year-old sheriff is accused of summoning a female jail inmate to his office for sex.
The prosecutor's office said the sheriff is also accused of driving that inmate and another one to a trailer and having sex with them both.
Authorities say the sheriff is also accused of having sex with a third inmate in his car and participating in the beating of a male inmate. Cravens' attorney, Alex Little, said he would comment later in the day.
Cravens is scheduled to be sentenced on July 20. He could face up to 20 years in prison.
He is said to have maintained a sexual relationship with the two inmates until their release.
Cravens was accused of granting the inmates special favors in exchange for their willingness to have sex with him, according to WKRN-TV. Authorities say Cravens personally chauffeured the inmates on trips to visit relatives.
Cravens also allowed the inmates to smoke cigarettes outside, a privilege not granted to others in the jail.
He is also believed to have given money to relatives of inmates so that they could in turn deposit the cash into jail commissary accounts.
Investigators reportedly found that the inmates had telephoned Cravens by dialing his personal cell phone number hundreds of times.
Cravens was also alleged to have kicked another inmate and placed him in a headlock while he was handcuffed by another correctional officer.
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