6/4/09
A former Rio Arriba County jail guard, who accused one superior of sexually harassing her and another of issuing a death threat against her, has settled her federal lawsuit against the County.
The wrongful termination and harassment lawsuit filed by Esther Lopez was dismissed with prejudice March 2, meaning it cannot be re-filed at a later date.
“It was a nuisance suit,” County Manager Lorenzo Valdez said. “We paid her $17,000.”
However, when the SUN requested the actual settlement Valdez said the County did not have the settlement document and that its insurance company paid Lopez $8,500. A public records request to inspect the settlement that was submitted May 27 was not fulfilled by Tuesday.
“I’m not going to be chasing down documents,” Valdez said. “Traveler’s (Insurance) doesn’t need the County’s permission to settle lawsuits. They haven’t provided us with copies of the settlement. They just call and say we settled. I say thanks a lot.”
The County’s settlement agreement with Lopez allowed her to add a letter of resignation to her personnel file, he said.
“But I can’t remove the termination letter (from her personnel file),” Valdez said.
Attorneys in the case did not return phone calls for comment.
Lopez, of Los Ojos, was fired in June 2007 for allegedly fraternizing with inmates and providing them with cigarettes. Lopez has denied both allegations.
Lopez filed a discrimination complaint but it was dismissed in February 2008 by the federal Equal Employment Opportunity Commission. She subsequently filed a sex-discrimination and wrongful termination suit against the Jail in state District Court in May 2008. The case was moved to federal District Court.
Lopez alleged she was harassed and the subject of offensive behavior by former jail supervisor Lydia Garcia and sexually harassed by Jail Administrator Bidal Candelaria, according to court documents.
Lopez alleged that she reported in July 2006 that Garcia had allowed an inmate to deliver medication to a fellow inmate — a violation of Jail policy, court documents state. Lopez also alleged that Garcia had subsequently said she could have an inmate put a “hit” on Lopez, according to court documents.
Lopez further alleged that in August 2006, after a back injury required her to undergo steroid injections, Candelaria harassed her by saying the steroids may make her “boobs” grow. The County’s response to Lopez’s complaint stated, “Candelaria teasingly said something on one occasion to the effect that the steroid shots would cause her breasts to grow.”
Lopez and Garcia did not return calls for comment. Calls to County attorneys Ted and Adan Trujillo and Lopez’s Albuquerque attorneys, Gilbert and Christina Vigil, were not returned.
Multiple lawsuits and torts have been filed against the County since January 2009. Following are summaries of those cases on which the SUN has yet to report:
Maced in Jail
A former Rio Arriba County Jail inmate who was allegedly maced by paintball-gun wielding guards has filed a lawsuit in federal District Court.
The suit, filed April 8, names as defendants Jail Administrator Bidal Candelaria, Assistant Jail Administrator Dennis Herrera, eight unidentified jail guards and the County Commission for excessive force resulting in injuries and civil rights violations stemming from an April 25, 2007, incident in which inmate Eric Espinoza was allegedly maced without warning by guards armed with paint ball-style rifles and handcuffed.
Espinoza was an innocent victim in a dispute between other inmates and guards, according to his Rio Rancho-based attorney, Dennis Montoya.
“A guard wanted to take (two other) inmates to lock-down but they were uncooperative,” Montoya said Monday. “Two guards ordered everybody else to go out into the yard area. The guards exited the pod and came back with eight other guards, all dressed up in full riot gear. Eric was standing next to his assigned bed and was basically struck repeatedly with chemical mace in paint ball containers shot out of paint ball guns. Eric was not an instigator or participant in any uprising or riot. He just happened to be assigned to that pod.”
After Espinoza was maced, he was ordered to lie down with his hands behind his back, Montoya said.
“One of the guards grabbed his left arm and vigorously twisted it, causing pain and injury to (Espinoza’s) arm and wrist,” Montoya said. “They slammed hand cuffs on him so tightly that they couldn’t get them off him. It later took two of them to compress the cuffs and take them off. They left him in that condition for an hour to an hour and 20 minutes.”
Although Espinoza’s wrists swelled to the size of his fists, his requests for medical care were ignored by jail officials for two weeks, according to Montoya.
“He was advised at Las Clinicas del Norte that he probably suffered nerve and tendon damage from the excessively tight hand-cuffing,” Montoya said. “When he was finally released from jail he went to Dr. McKinley at Española Hospital and was told he would have to undergo surgery to correct the damage — and that even then, there’s a likelihood that he faces permanent damage.”
Candelaria said he could not remember the details of the case.
“There was no riot or uprising,” Candelaria said. “But do you remember what you were doing in April 2007? I don’t recall the incident and I have not seen any paperwork on the lawsuit. I am at a conference out of town without access to my papers, right now.”
County attorney Ted Trujillo did not return a call for comment.
Inmate Suicide
Santa Fe attorney Mary Ann McConnell sent a tort claim to the County and the County Jail in Tierra Amarilla Feb. 2 notifying them that she intends to sue for medical negligence and wrongful death in the suicide of inmate Samuel Jaramillo, 22, on behalf of Jaramillo’s parents Simon and Adelaida Jaramillo.
The tort states that Jaramillo was not properly supervised and did not receive medical care for his seizures and depression.
“Whether we go forward with a suit depends on the County’s response to our tort,” McConnell said. “There needs to be some negotiation.”
Jaramillo killed himself in a holding cell Dec. 26, 2008, by hanging himself with shoelaces.
Jaramillo, of Lyden, had been arrested for allegedly selling his family’s Christmas gifts.
“The parents and Samuel’s only sister are completely devastated,” McConnell said. “They lost their only son.”
During an April 30 jail inspection by County commissioners and staff, Jail Administrator Bidal Candelaria had said the suicide had prompted the installation of high-tech security measures. In addition to banning shoelaces, Candelaria said guards now use digital wands to confirm that unit checks are performed.
The jail actually had the equipment prior to the suicide but it was only installed after Jaramillo’s death, Candelaria said.
During the April 30 jail inspection, an inmate wearing work boots and boot laces was escorted past jail and County officials, down the hallway to high-security cell pods, McConnell noted.
“For another inmate to have shoelaces in his boots after Jaramillo’s tragic suicide is an indication of how well-supervised inmates were,” McConnell said.
Valdez declined to discuss the Jaramillo case.
Sexual Assaults
Albuquerque attorney Mark Fine notified Rio Arriba, Cibola, the state Risk Management Division and the state Women’s Correctional Facility in Grants Feb. 11 that he intends to sue for alleged negligence and rapes by former Corrections Officer Andrew Trujillo between 2003 and 2008, on behalf of an alleged female victim.
The alleged assaults were not detailed in the one-page tort letter nor an explanation of how the case was connected to Rio Arriba. Fine and Trujillo did not return calls for comment.
Drug Bust
Santa Fe attorney Daniel Marlowe notified Rio Arriba and Santa Fe counties, the FBI, City of Santa Fe, state Risk Management Division, and Region Three Drug Task Force Jan. 26, 2009, of his intention to sue for wrongful death and excessive force over the death of Matthew Romero, 23, on behalf of Romero’s parents, Matthew Edwin Romero and Rosemary Beatrice Romero.
Romero was shot to death by Region Three Drug Task Force members Oct. 27, 2008 at the Santa Fe Outlet Mall during a cocaine bust, records show.
Marlowe’s tort letter states that Romero’s shooting was intentional and malicious, and that Marlowe intends to seek unspecified punitive damages.
911 Delay
The County received a one-paragraph tort letter Jan. 13 as notification of an intention to sue over alleged failures to respond to 911 emergency calls made Oct. 13, 2008.
Bobby Rodriguez, 52, died Oct. 15 at St. Vincent Hospital, two days after sustaining brain injuries and a fractured skull at his Española home. A blood-covered frying pan was found near Rodriguez at the scene of the apparent attack. Rodriguez’s autopsy states that he died of blunt trauma to the head, but no charges have been filed in the case. Rodriguez’s girlfriend Kimberly Sandlin called 911 Oct. 13 to report Rodriguez was bleeding from a gash to the back of his head and had another wound near his eye, according to a Sheriff’s Department report.
The tort letter alleges that failures to respond to 911 calls resulted in Rodriguez’s death.
“Numerous calls were made both by individual (sic) at the scene as well as staff members of St. Vincent’s Hospital and the county did not respond in a timely manner which resulted in death,” the tort letter states.
The tort letter is signed by Rodriguez’s sister Cecilia Haggard of Palmdale, Calif. Haggard could not be reached for comment.