A Talbot County deputy sheriff has been released on a $25,000 unsecured bond after he was charged with rape, assault, false imprisonment and misconduct in office, a state police spokeswoman said yesterday.

Sgt. Laura Lu Herman, the spokeswoman, said an investigation began in February after requests from the state's attorney's offices in Talbot and Caroline counties. The accuser is a Caroline County woman.

Herman said Jimmy D. Hackett, 26, of Easton surrendered to state police Monday. She said the alleged incidents occurred between January 1997 and April, when Hackett was a deputy sheriff.

Pub Date: 5/13/98