The former assistant director of Limestone County’s Community Corrections Program has pleaded guilty to an ethics violation and custodial sexual misconduct.

Alabama Attorney General Steve Marshall announced the plea today for James Michael Hardaway, 64, of Athens.

Hardaway pleaded guilty Tuesday and will serve a 20-year split sentence, with two years in the Alabama Department of Corrections. He must also register as a sex offender and abide by all requirements of Alabama’s Sex Offender Registration and Notification Act.

“No one is above the law, especially those who are in positions of authority,” Marshall said in a statement. “Our community corrections programs are an important part of our criminal justice system and must be administered by individuals who are committed to the good of those within their care.”

Hardaway was arrested in October 2020 on charges of engaging in sexual conduct with three different victims who were in the custody of the Limestone County Community Corrections program while he was an officer of that program, and soliciting sexual services from the same three victims, according to an announcement at the time.

Marshall commended Assistant Attorneys General Jillian Jordan Evans and Chris Moore, as well as the Investigations Unit of Attorney General’s Investigations Division, for their work on the case.