STE. GENEVIEVE, Mo. (AP) – Authorities say a former Missouri sheriff’s deputy accused of sexually abusing women has been found dead in his jail cell.

Ste. Genevieve County sheriff’s Maj. Jason Schott tells the St. Louis Post-Dispatch (http://bit.ly/1VOUC06 ) that 52-year-old Marty Rainey was found dead Saturday in the county jail.

Schott says the Missouri State Highway Patrol is investigating the “in-custody death,” which is standard procedure.

Schott says the death of Rainey, who worked in Gasconade County in east-central Missouri, appears to be a suicide.

Rainey faced state and federal charges accusing him of sexually abusing women and enticing a minor into prostitution.

Court documents allege Rainey would threaten or coerce women into having sex while he was on duty.

Rainey was a Hermann and Rosebud police officer at the same time as deputy.