Pascagoula, Mississippi (CNN) -- A lack of screening of oil spill cleanup workers meant a sex offender got a job, and left him free to rape a colleague according to a Mississippi county sheriff.





A CNN investigation into the incident reveals that basic background checks were not done on those hired to remove oil from the beaches in and around Pascagoula.





Jackson County Sheriff Mike Byrd told CNN he was shocked when he met with the head of BP security for the area several weeks before the alleged rape took place. He said the BP representative told him that only drug screenings, not background checks, were being conducted on the cleanup workers.





"I said, 'You're kidding me.' He said, 'No.' He said, 'There's so many of them, we were told to do drug screens and that was it.' And I said, 'Well, that's not good at all.' "





Byrd said he told the BP official that "you're going to have every type of person coming in here looking for a job, and you're going to have the criminal element in here, and we're not going to know who we're dealing with if we don't do background checks on these people."





"It's sad because you got a victim now by a sex offender, and he's in our jail. Had we have known this, he would have been arrested before the crime could have been committed," said Byrd, who also said that if asked, his department would have done the background checks for free.





Rundy Charles Robertson, 41, who faces charges of sexual battery and failure to register as a sex offender, is in the Jackson County, Mississippi, jail with bail set at $505,000. He told police that he had consensual sex with the woman. He has not yet entered a plea.





Robertson has a criminal history dating back to 1991, according to police records. He was put on the national sex offender registry for a 1996 conviction for contributing to the delinquency of a minor in Louisiana. He is also on probation after being convicted in 2003 in Georgia for cruelty to children.  Read Boudreau's blog post on background checks for spill workers





Robertson had been supervising a crew of cleanup workers, including the alleged victim. She told CNN he offered to take her home one day in June because she was not feeling well.





However, she said, when he dropped her off, he asked to use the bathroom in her motel room. When he came out, she said, he raped her.





The woman told CNN she is scared and angry that this happened.





"If they would have ran the background checks, they wouldn't have a man like that working," she said.





"Emotionally, it's really, really messed me up. I get real upset at times, I go through anxiety. I feel angry, I feel dirty. I don't understand what gave him the right to take something -- or felt he could do what he wanted. ... I'm scared. I'm real scared."





She said she was laid off and is now unemployed.





"I find it unbelievable because BP and their subcontractors had relationships with all local law enforcement," said Adam Miller, the woman's attorney. "They had the opportunity and the ability to clearly check all of these people that they were hiring and bringing in to ensure the safety of the public."





He said since the incident happened in June, it's been "a living hell for her."





"She gave up her housing where she was living to come here," Miller said. "Now she's been raped, she doesn't have a job, and everybody walked away."





BP hired a company called Miller Environmental Group for the beach cleanup project. Miller hired Aerotek to find workers.





In a statement to CNN, BP spokesman Robert Wine said, "BP does conduct full checks on its employees, and under normal business conditions can make it a part
what is the worker charged with What was the oil worker charged with? Who is charged with raping co-worker? Where was the suspect jailed?
charges of sexual battery and failure to register as a sex offender, rape Rundy Charles Robertson, Jackson County, Mississippi, jail
question: what is the worker charged with, answer: charges of sexual battery and failure to register as a sex offender, | question: What was the oil worker charged with?, answer: rape | question: Who is charged with raping co-worker?, answer: Rundy Charles Robertson, | question: Where was the suspect jailed?, answer: Jackson County, Mississippi, jail