State OKs two settlements over troopers’ misdeeds

Thursday, Nov. 6, 1997 | 2:06 a.m.

The state Board of Examiners voted Wednesday to pay $425,000 to settle a sexual harassment case brought by trooper Mary Howard against some of her co-workers in Reno and southern Nevada.

Howard, who still works as a trooper, filed her federal lawsuit against the Highway Patrol and won a jury verdict of $500,000 in September. The settlement was reduced to $425,000 and includes attorney fees and costs.

Howard said at the trial that she had been the victim of name-calling, lewd comments and suggestive language from her male colleagues since joining the agency in 1991.

Howard also said she reported the incidents to her supervisors but got no results. But Solicitor General Mark Ghan said disciplinary action was brought against the offending troopers.

One was fired at the training academy in 1991, and another was dismissed later after a second disciplinary problem, he added.

The board, composed of Gov. Bob Miller, Attorney General Frankie Sue Del Papa and Secretary of State Dean Heller, also voted to pay $635,000 to Ricardo Flores who was shot by a trooper who mistook him for a drug dealer.

Flores was driving a truck carrying poultry in 1994 when a trooper noticed he was parked illegally and then asked him to proceed to a weigh station for a records check.

The troopers performing the check mistook Flores for someone wanted on a drug warrant, and arrested him in front of his family.

While Flores was kneeling with his hands over his head, trooper John Henke shot Flores in the ankle after seeing him make a motion as if to grab a weapon. Henke was fired shortly after the incident.

In another settlement, the board approved paying $224,895 to Michelle Schmitz, who was impregnated by a counselor at the Caliente Girls Training Center almost a decade ago when she was 14.

Schmitz brought her claim after it was determined that former counselor Gary Richey had fathered her child. Richey was criminally prosecuted and served five months in jail.