Wednesday, August 26, 2009

Jailer pleads not guilty

The Northwest Herald reports that McHenry County Sheriff's Department corrections officer Elias Dario Fortoso, 29, pled not guilty yesterday to charges filed against him for inappropriate physical contact with inmates.

Previous reports, as I recall, indicated inappropriate contact with only one inmate, and yesterday's article reports that Fortoso allegedly had previously asked an inmate to show him her breasts. Is a different inmate involved?

The article also reports that Fortoso is on paid administrative leave.

So, the big question is, why is he on paid leave? Is not this kind of contact between a person in authority and an inmate a very serious violation of rules of conduct? Why isn't he on unpaid administrative leave?

There is a nagging thought running around in the back of my head that a jail setting is a perfect place for a set-up. If a jailer was enforcing rules that were unpopular with an inmate, a good "payback" would be to file a complaint against the jailer.

So, maybe there is a reasonable doubt on the part of the sheriff's department about the complaint against Fortoso. Is that the reason for paid administrative leave? Did the department have to file the charges because an inmate complained, but it expects the jailer to be found not guilty, once the matter finally gets to trial?

If he is found not guilty, will he return to his job?

4 comments:

tinfm said...

innocent until proven guilty

STFU said...

Why do you add stuff that isnt there in the first place? It never said anything about multiple allegations. As far as leave with pay, do think we'd have any jailers if everytime they received a complaint from an inmate, they got sent home without a check until the internal investigation was complete. And lets remember "INMATE". There's policy, procedure and I'm sure, a union contract to adhere to before you send a guy home without a paycheck. And your last paragraph, again, just making stuff up???

STFU said...

This will never happen because youre going to lose, but "if" you were elected sheriff *cough*, I can see the deputy and corrections unions suing the pants off the county. Being a chief or a sheriff is not a dictatorship. There are rules for them just like the cops on the street. Cops just cant assume someone committed a crime and throw them in jail. Chiefs have to obey similar rules with officers. In fact, officers usually have less rights than criminals. And, just like in your blogs, they're "guilty til proven innocent". Read up on some labor laws and get yourself a copy of a few police contracts before you go ASSuming anything traffic boy.

Gus said...

STFU, even you must know that a criminal complaint (arrest) isn't handled by "internal affairs" (which MCSD doesn't even have).