BAKERSFIELD, Calif. (KGET) -- A Kern County Sheriff's Office employee reported she was raped by Sgt. Stephen Wells in March. Why did it take 10 months for charges to be filed? That's one of many questions to which the woman's attorneys at Rodriguez & Associates are seeking answers with their filing of a claim -- a precursor to a lawsuit -- against the county on Tuesday. "One of the things we want to find out in this case, and one of the big reasons why we were forced to file, is what's going on, why did the delay happen . . . it seems a little convenient that he's a sergeant with the sheriff's department -- did that have anything to do with it?" said Chantal Trujillo, a senior associate with the law firm. "If it had been anyone else, would it have been any sort of delay like this?" she asked. Wells was charged Jan. 10 with rape, assault with the intent to commit rape by force or fear, and burglary. He's free on $240,000 bail and is scheduled to be arraigned next month. Trujillo said Wells and the alleged victim had been in a relationship that ended years earlier. On March 27, Trujillo said, Wells broke into the woman's home "and he pushes himself on her, and he ultimately rapes her." The account is eerily similar to one given by former sheriff's deputy Carly Snow, who alleges in a 2023 lawsuit against the county that Wells broke into her home while drunk and demanded sex. She declined, and Wells “tried to rip my shirt and shorts off” before apologizing and leaving, according to the suit. Snow alleges she was subjected to lewd comments and retaliation by more than a dozen Sheriff’s Office employees over a decade -- and was twice sexually assaulted by Deputy Enrique Plaza. Plaze has not been charged with a crime. A hearing on the lawsuit is scheduled next year. Wells and Plaza are among several sheriff's office employees to face sexual misconduct allegations in recent years. Last year, former sheriff's lieutenant David Hubbard was decertified by the state agency in charge of the certification of California law enforcement officers. On a weekend in 2021, Hubbard and a civilian sheriff’s employee who reported to him had what each described as consensual sex in his office -- while he was on watch commander duty. When an investigation was launched, Hubbard allegedly deleted text messages and telephone logs and shared confidential information with the woman. He also is alleged to have interfered with the investigation of a sergeant whom the woman accused of sexual assault. In 2019, Michael Everett Clark was charged with multiple felonies for sex crimes he's accused of committing while on duty. Two women who worked at a Fastrip near sheriff’s headquarters, a woman arrested by Clark and a fourth woman who spoke with Clark at her home after she reported a case of identity theft accused him of inappropriate behavior -- some saying he touched them against their will. Clark, whose employment with the sheriff's office ended soon after charges were filed, is scheduled to stand trial in May. In 2021, Brandon Lawrence was sentenced to 180 days in jail and ordered to undergo psychiatric counseling after pleading no contest to having sex with multiple female inmates while he was employed as a detentions deputy. Lawrence claimed the encounters were consensual -- an assertion rebutted by at least some of women. One woman told detectives she felt she had no choice but to comply and was disgusted by what happened. It's illegal under state law for an officer working in a detention facility to engage in a sex act with an inmate, no matter the circumstance.