PHOENIX (AP) – One of two inmates who took a pair of prison guards hostage in an armed tower pleaded guilty Wednesday, admitting that he raped a kitchen worker and a female guard during the standoff.

Steven Coy, who was born in Lewiston, Maine, pleaded guilty to 14 charges – including escape, kidnapping, assault and sexual assault. Prosecutors did not offer Coy anything in exchange for his plea in Maricopa County Superior Court.

“This is not a plea agreement situation,” Assistant Maricopa County attorney Jeannette Gallagher said.

Coy, 40, was under heavy guard Wednesday, with seven SWAT team members present and few people allowed in the courtroom. A sentencing hearing was scheduled for April 30.

Coy and inmate Ricky Wassenaar took two guards hostage Jan. 18 in a tower at the Arizona State Prison Complex-Lewis in Buckeye. The male guard was released Jan. 24 and the female guard was set free Feb. 1 – the same day the inmates surrendered.

Wassenaar has said that the pair initially planned to go to the tower to get weapons and escape but got trapped there. Coy, however, disputed that claim; he didn’t explain why they went to the tower.

To end the standoff, Arizona prison officials agreed to move the inmates to prisons in Wisconsin and Maine and said the two would not serve time in the county jail. But prosecutors had them moved to jail to await trial shortly after their surrender.

Coy indicated in a media interview last week that he was frustrated at still being held in Arizona and was considering pleading guilty.

Coy’s court appointed attorney, Jim Logan, tried to downplay those remarks during the hearing.

“That was a statement made to the press. Take it for what it’s worth,” said Logan, who declined to comment after the hearing.

Gallagher said she was concerned that Coy was still trying to manipulate the situation.

“I have concerns that he’s not pleading guilty because he is, but because he wants what he wants,” she told the judge.

Once Coy is sentenced, he will be turned over to the Department of Corrections. A Corrections spokeswoman did not immediately return a message Wednesday seeking comment on where Coy will ultimately be incarcerated.

Shelly Miller, a spokeswoman for Maricopa County Attorney Rick Romley, said Romley was not pleased with Coy’s pleading.

“It seems like he kind of won in the whole deal,” Miller said of Coy. “(Romley) feels defeated in that this guy is going to get exactly what he wanted. You have to wonder about the message that sends to the other inmates in prison.”

Romley has be critical of the way negotiations were handled and publicly objected to the agreement to move the inmates out of state.

Jeanine L’Ecuyer, a spokeswoman for the governor’s office, said that Coy and Wassenaar pose too great a security risk to be kept in state.

“Sooner or later, we have to get them out of the Arizona prison system because they know too much,” she said.

The female correctional officer who was held hostage and sexually assaulted by Coy attended Wednesday’s hearing. However, Superior Court Judge Warren Granville ordered – at prosecutors’ request – that no media approach her on the floor of the courthouse where the hearing was held.

AP-ES-03-17-04 1529EST